The Christmas Story

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year.  Love the movies, the songs, the decorations, and the baking.  While I am writing this I am baking Chocolate Chip Cookies.  My favorite Candies I can't bake to save my life. The Pecan Sandies, or the Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls.  They just never turn out. Anyway enough on that.  Growing up I remember laying under the Christmas Tree and reading or looking (depending on if I could read or not) at my book about the birth of Christ.  I would then either draw a picture of the stable and the manger or I would write my own version of the story.

The past four weeks at church we have been studying about each of the characters of the Christmas story,  Ya know Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Shepherds and the Wise men. Which is your favorite character.

Zechariah & Elizabeth had given up on having a baby of their own.  Then one day an Angel appears the and said " Do not be afraid." Then the angel told Zechariah that they would have a son.  He would be bring back the people of Israel to God.  Can you imagine the responsibility of raising a son who would be bringing God's people back to him.  Or maybe you can relate more to Zechariah, of not being able to talk for 9 whole months because you had questioned what the angel was saying to you.  Honestly I totally would probably been doing the same thing as Zechariah. "God are you sure you have the right people".

Or maybe you relate to Joseph.  He also saw an angel and heard the words "Be not afraid." The angel was there to let him know it was Okay to take Mary as his wife. That he was going to be the step dad to Jesus the Savoir of the world.  I can not even imagine what was going through his mind.  He could of easy of just dumped Mary and not trusted God that he was the right person to be the step father to the Son of God.

The next character in the Story is Mary.   Angel also said to her "Do not be afraid."  Maybe she thought  she was dreaming or that maybe the Angel had come to the wrong house.  She was going to be the mother to the Savoir of the world.  What a responsibility!  There is a song called "Mary did you know?"  I think she knew he was going to be the Savoir of the World but I am not so sure she would know about all the miracles he would preform.  

Next are the Shepherds. They also heard "Do not be afraid"  Yet,  I can just imagine. You have the sheep all around you, You are huddled by the fire trying to stay warm. And all of a sudden there is an angel standing before you telling you of a baby that has been born and that He is the Savoir of the world. I can just imagine they were all looking at each other like "You do see this. I am not the only one seeing this, right"  Then after the angel left can you imagine they are like. Was someone playing a prank on us, was the coffee bad?  Or was it like all boys Curiosity that got to them.  They had to go see what these angels were talking about. Was it true.  Then I wonder how  they knew what stable to go too. Or was  there only one is the town of Bethlehem.  Or did the go check them all out.

Finally we come to the Wise Men.  They saw the star and followed it for 3 years.  I am not sure I could follow a star for 3 years.  Can you imagine not knowing where you are going. Just packing up your camel and heading out. No GPS or Google maps to show  the quickest or fast way to get there.  Then to get to the city of Jerusalem  and meet with King Herod and realize you are at the wrong house.   But finally coming to the house where Jesus was. Delivering their gifts of Frankincense and Myrrh and Gold.  They did not hear a angel say "Do not be afraid." But instead in a dream an angel told them to go a different way home.

In this Christmas story all of the characters were willing to follow God and go a way that may have seems scary, unsure, fearful.  Are we willing to go when God tells us to go?