Don’t know the meaning of whoa-lo-go? ‘Farabee’s Dictionary’ can help:

WHOA – means STOP!

LO – means LOOK!

GO – means GO!

Our lives have many WHOA, LO, GO moments. When we are met with a circumstance that may shock us and completely stop us in our tracks – good or bad- we often take a deep breath and say, “WHOA!”

Then, we begin to have our LO experience, where we look, see, or behold, the reality in front of us resulting from the WHOA.

After experiencing our WHOA and our LO, we must put it in perspective and move forward with our GO!

Here is how Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds handled their whoa-lo-go:

Mary’s Faith: WHOA! The angel of the Lord came to tell her that even though she was a virgin, she would conceive, and bring forth the son of God and name him Jesus.

LO! She looked! She saw! She heard! The angel said, “Fear not.” She feared not. She did not question or doubt.

GO! She moved forward, praising God by saying, “Holy is His name!” She would grow to understand the pleasure, privilege, and pain of motherhood. Yes, she went – as far as she could go – to the cross – where she watched her son die as her Savior, while the world turned their backs on Him.

Joseph’s Integrity:

WHOA! When Joseph was given the shocking news about Mary,   he had a choice to make. His initial reaction was to privately break their engagement, so as not to embarrass her.

LO! He looked! He saw! He heard! An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, telling him not to be fearful of taking Mary as his wife, and that Jesus would be born to save his people from their sins.

GO! He loved Mary. He loved God. He put feet to his faith, married Mary, and became the earthly father to Jesus.

Shepherds’ Passion:

WHOA! The shepherds were at work in the field. Angels appeared!

LO! The shepherds looked! They saw! The glory of the Lord was shining about them! They heard! The message was that their Savior had been born. The heavenly host was praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest!”

“Let’s GO!” the shepherds said to each other after the angels left. Their passion – strong and barely controllable emotion – was evident as they ran to see baby Jesus! They then began to spread the word abroad that the Savior had been born!

The faith of young Mary, the integrity of carpenter Joseph, and the passion of the lowly shepherds is evident. They had their WHOA moment, followed by their LO moment, resulting in their GO moment!

WHOA! LO! GO! What about us? We often face whoa-lo-go times in our lives. The good times are easy, but the tough times can be awfully hard, can’t they?

Those tough times, we must move to the step beyond the WHOA, look and see during our LO, and be ready to get up and GO!

Sometimes, the world may seem a little dark, but it was dark when Jesus entered it, too. Just as God was with Mary and Joseph and the shepherds and baby Jesus, He is also with us – from the beginning to the end.

Let me know about some of your ‘whoa-lo-go’ experiences…

Contact Ann Farabee at annfarabee@gmail.com or visit  annfarabee.com