Where did Jesus go

     Of course we all know the happenings of Jesus during his three years of ministry before his crucifixion but what was he up to for the period of time before. This is one question I for one have never pondered, I mean why would I? If memory serves me right Herod was king at the time of the birth of Jesus and he had ordered three wise men who were seeking the newborn king of the Jews to report to him when they found him, of course they did not due to the vision they had of the intentions of Herod. In Matthew it says that Joseph was visited by an angel and told to flee to Egypt so to scuttle Herod's plan to likely kill Jesus.
Matthew 2;13 And when they were departed, behold,the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother,and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him

    There are apocryphal tales that tell of the flight to Egypt where palm trees bow before the Christ child and beasts of all sorts paying homage to him. There is a tale of thieves that encounter the holy family along the way, but change their minds about robbing Joseph and Mary. There is some speculation that two of these robbers were crucified along side of Jesus. I won't delve into the apophrical "gospels" as they are not considered to be inspired of God.

It isn't until much later when Jesus is 12 when there is mention of him in the scriptures again.
In Luke 2;41-52
⁴¹ Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

⁴³ And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

⁴⁴ But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.

⁴⁵ And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

⁴⁶ And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

⁴⁷ And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.

⁴⁸ And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.

⁴⁹ And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?

⁵⁰ And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.

⁵¹ And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

This was the first time that Jesus is mentioned in the new testament since his birth and it is not again until almost 20 years later that he is mentioned in the New Testament, so where was he and what did he do? So there isn't much information that I can find, there was a visitor to the Tibetan monks that claimed to have seen some writings in the monastery that claimed Jesus had visited them. This claim was later revealed to be fraudulent by the head lama who said no visitors had been there in quite some time and that there was no evidence to claim that the Christ had ever been in the monasteries. The author of this theory later fessed up and said he had fabricated the whole story. So on to India where it is believed by some that Jesus spent some time there, did he go on a mission to show the people there that he was the Christ, perhaps he traveled the spice trail or silk trade routes and ventured through Egypt. There is some speculation that he wandered around in England, maybe he was there to learn, maybe he went to all the places around the Middle East. He could have gone on a mission to spread God's word and to prove that the prophesies were fulfilled and that he was the Son of God the redeemer of the world. Did he spend time with Buddha and learn all the manner of miracles so he could go back to the Holy Land and perform them. I don't really know what happened it is entirely possible that he did wander, he could very well have visited these many places. The one thing we do know about the time frame is that Jesus most likely stayed in the Galilee area and worked as a carpenter, this claim is the most credible as we can read in Mark chapter 6; 3

 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

This is widely accepted that Jesus was familiar to the area although people asked who he was when he started teaching at the synagogue. It is believed this gives credibility to the claim he was a carpenter as stated in the gospel after he started his ministry. So I really had a hard time finding any credible information as to his whereabouts so when i was about to give up it came to me crystal clear, what does it matter as to his whereabouts, is it so vitally important to his ultimate goal. Not at all it really does not matter, if it did then there would be scripture pertaining to it. He simply increased in wisdom and stature and in favor of God and man, pretty simple for The Christ really. We will one day undestand and know all of the happenings of Jesus, we will know his whereabouts but for now my curiosity is curbed because if it needed to be known it would be.

     I do know this, that Jesus Christ is the savior and that his mission still continues today and will continue until all of mankind accepts this as truth. I know he lives today and he lives everywhere, his ministry continues in all of us and through all of us, we are all a part of Christ, He lives through us and in us, he helps us to grow in stature and wisdom, he makes it possible for us to grow in favor with God our Father in heaven and the rest of mankind. It is my testimony that if we continue to read scripture that is relevant and inspired of God, and do the small things required of us we will grow and we will realize our ultimate goal to be reunited with our Father in heaven and be with our brother Jesus christ. I leave these thoughts with you in his sacred name Jesus Christ. Amen.