What the Drummer Boy Didn’t Know

The children of the shepherds waited eagerly not far from Bethlehem to hear the story of their parents visit to see the Christ child.  Little Johannes sat on the hill watching the tiny barn in the valley where they say the miracle baby was just born.  But instead of his parents, a small boy came out carrying a drum and made his way up the hill.

“Oh hello.” The little drummer boy said when he saw the young shepherd boy.  “I am Amahl.”

“I am Johannes.”  The shepherd introduced himself.  “Have you been to see the Christ child?”

“Yes, I traveled here with the wise men from the east.  I could not afford a gift so they let me play my drum for him.  I will never forget it.”  Amahl told his new friend sitting next to him in the snow.

“Yes, I want to see the messiah so much.  It is the greatest miracle to come to our people since the Hanukah miracle.”  Johannes reflected.

“I am not part of your proud Hebrew tradition.”  Amahl confessed.  “What is this story of Hanukah?”

So Amahl began to draw pictures in the snow to tell the story.  “A long time ago, over hundred and fifty years ago to be exact, the Hebrew people were being treated very cruelly by bad men who were the government.  They did not respect our religion and they destroyed our temple and put filthy things that made our temple unholy on our alters and killed many many people”

“Oh that must have been terrible.” Amahl observed.  “Stories are told of this horrible treatment around the world.  The wise men who brought me talked of them during the long ride to Bethlehem.  They said a great champion saved your people.”

“Yes, that’s true.  His name was Judas Maccabeus and God gave him great victories over our oppressors.  He was able to defeat armies of ten thousand with just a few hundred soldiers just like the great deliverers of history did.  It was truly a show of how faithful and protective God is of his people.” Johannes continued.

“So you celebrate Hanukah because of the miracle of deliverance that God did through Judas Maccabeus?”  Wondered Amahl.

“Well there’s more to the story.”  Amahl continued happy to be able to tell the story of the Hanukah miracle.  “Judas Maccabeas drove the oppressors from our land.  Our priests and valiant men took the temple back as the battle raged.  In the temple there is a flame that is to burn for eternity.  It represents that God is present in the temple and He will never leave us or forsake us.  When our priests reentered the temple that day, they found the lamp still burning despite the horrible things the enemy had done to our holy places.  It showed us for sure that God never left us and will never leave us, even when we suffer.” Johannes said sound much like his father when the story is told each year in their home.

“This is a wonderful God you have.  I wish all the peoples of the world could come to Him.”  Amahl said sadly.

“The miracle of Hanukah shows that God will save his people no matter what.  The priests found there was only enough oil for one day left for the lamp to continue to burn.  Because they had to stay in the temple as the battle raged on, there was no way they could go find oil for the lamp and yet that lamp was God’s presence with us.  For eight days they waited to get out to get more oil.”  Amahl said whispering in awe.

“And the lamp?  Did God’s presence lift because the oil ran out?”  Johannes asked eagerly.

“NO!”  Amahl said triumphantly, “The lamp burned for eight days on one days worth of oil.  That is the miracle of Hanukah and why we celebrate each year for eight days to commemorate that God would not let his spirit lift from us even though supplies were not available to keep the lamp burning.  Our God is not bound by missing oil or anything.  He has the power to do miracles for all of his people.  And now he has done the greatest miracle, he has sent His only son, Jesus to save all people so we all can be his children.”

“As we traveled.”  Amahl said, “the wise men spoke of salvation for all people too.  Isn’t your God just the God of the Hebrews and didn’t Jesus just come to save the Jews just as Judas Maccabee saved the Jewish people from outsiders?’  He asked confused.

Amahl face lit up because he suddenly understood why Hanukah and Christmas are about the same thing.  “The miracle of the Christ child is like Hanukah.  Just as God declared in Hanukah that his presence will always be with us, now even more is God coming to be our friend and savior because God himself has come, not just oil form him or blessing but God himself has come to be with us forever.  And the miracle is greater still because as the angel choir sang, his salvation is for all people, the Jews, the wise men from the east, you Amahl, all people can receive the salvation from God.”

Both boys got goose bumps from the amazing thing they learned about God.  And on that very first Christmas night, Jew and non Jew alike joined hands and accepted the gift of life from Jesus just like you and your family have done and people in your community will continue to do as you tell them the story of the amazing miracle of God’s blessings shown in Hanukah and in the coming of his son, our savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.

What Odd Creatures God Made

Ariel and Serena were angels.  God gave them all kinds of interesting assignments which they loved doing because they were created by God for the sole purpose of doing his bidding.  But for as long as they could remember, they had never had such an interesting assignment as this one. 

“Where are we going?”  Serena complained to Ariel as she drug her out of her angel apartment right in the middle of her nap.

“Listen, we need to hurry.  God is about to do something completely new.  He is going to create a whole new universe and he is going to do it in just seven days.  Not only that but word on the streets of gold and silver is that God is going to create a whole new being, not like angels or anything we have seen before.”  Ariel said breathlessly trying to get her friend to hurry up.  “God wants all available angels there to witness it and create songs of praise about what he is going to do.” 

So Serena hurried and they got pretty good seats on the edge of the universe so they could see everything.  “What’s wrong out there?  The whole place looks like chaos.”  Serena observed.

“It is but God is about to fix that.  Watch”.  Then as the two angels watched, the voice of God could be heard commanding “LET THERE BE LIGHT” and there was light.  Then he created sky and the dry land of this new world that was named “earth”

“See now that’s where I would have done things differently.” Observed Serena.  “I would have made the universe and the stars and suns and all that first and then make the earth last, in some sort of big bang or something like that.”

“Yeah, well good thing you aren’t God then, Serena” Ariel criticized.  “Because that is a dumb idea.”

There wasn’t much time for discussion because God was moving fast.  “Wow it’s like he had this all planned out” Ariel said with awe.

“Since the beginning of eternity, some say.”  Serena observed.

“How can eternity have a beginning, its eternity?”  Ariel nit picked.

“Stop you are going to hurt my head.”  Serena responded.

God was moving fast.  He created the planets and then the stars and moons and seasons.  It was all falling into place one thing after another.  “I think He is done.”  Ariel speculated.

But God was far from done.  He filled the oceans he just made with fish and whales and a huge variety of living things and then he turned around and did the same thing to the land, populating with a dizzying assortment of animals of every imaginable shape, size and color.

“Wow, God is so creative.”  Serena said with a low whistle.

“Well, he is the creator silly.  Do you think that thing with the long neck is the special creature he is going to make that we talked about?” wondered Ariel.

“No, that’s an ostridge you nut.”  Serena corrected her fellow angel.  “This new creature will rule this world.  Ostridges can’t rule, they spend too much time with their heads in the sand.  Oh look, I think the time has come, God is creating his masterpiece.”

The process of creating this new creature was completely different.  God formed him from the dirt very carefully.  He seemed to be pouring so much love into this new design.  Finally, the shape was perfect and he named this new creature “man”.  But it was still a dirt statue when God did something completely unexpected.  He exhaled his own breath into the figure and it came to life.

“Wow, that means that man has God’s own life inside him.  Not like the other animals or fish or plants.  This “man” thing is a relative to God.”  Ariel said reverently.

It was so much fun to watch Man and then the companion God made for him, Woman, enjoy the wonderful earth and the special garden God made for him.  They seemed to be in paradise.  But something went wrong. 

“Look, the woman is talking to that snake.”  Serena said with alarm.  “Get away form him, Eve.”  She tried to call out.  “He is nothing but trouble.”

But it was too late.  The evil one talked the woman and then the man into sinning and all of a sudden, all of God’s perfect creation started going to shambles.  God took his beloved creations, Man and Woman and they were thrown from the garden.  They started knowing disease and old age, and worry and decay and so did the wonderful creation God had made.

Serena was beyond consolation at what had happened.  Ariel had a terrible time getting her to come out of her room she was so upset.  “It’s ruined forever.  This is so tragic.”  Serena wept.

But then, suddenly, they heard the voice of God as he condemned the snake for his role in the Fall.  “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

“Serena, did you hear that?  Do you know what that means?”  Ariel said with a barely held in excitement.

“No Ariel, it was pretty hard to understand.”  Serena answered.

“God is promising to save mankind.  He is giving them a promise that some day, God himself will come to earth and die for the sins of man.  The son of God that we love so much here in Heaven, he is going to go down and bring salvation to all lost men and to the fallen earth and universe too.  And when it’s all over, it will be better than it ever was in the first place because God’s people will know better than to disobey and they will follow God willingly and be his family and that is what God has wanted all along.”

“Well then,” Serena concluded.  “Let’s get busy and help man all we can.  When Jesus brings them salvation, the glory of God will be greater than it ever has been through all eternity.  Come on, Ariel, we have work to do.

What Does God Like?

Lee and Larry loved their sixth birthday party.  Even though they were twins, Mommy and Daddy always made sure they each had a special time.  And with their birthdays coming in December, Mommy and Daddy also always made sure their birthdays were special even though Christmas was right around the corner.  The party was so fun with a clown and cake and songs and wonderful presents from their friends and grandparents and uncle and aunts.  It went by so fast but before they knew it, everyone had gone home and it was time to clean up and get ready for bed.

Evening family devotions were one of the most important parts of Lee and Larry’s day.  Daddy read part of the story of Jesus coming at Christmas which is where he read every year during December so they would know the real reason for Christmas, to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  At the end of it, Lee asked, “Daddy, did Jesus get a birthday party every year with presents and a clown too?”

Everybody laughed trying to imagine what kind of birthday party Mary and Joseph gave for Jesus when He was six.  Larry wondered, “I bet he liked the same kind of toys we like.”

“Well, what does God like?”  Lee added.  “I mean, we like cookies and cartoons and toys, but what kind of things are fun for God?”  It was a question that for a minute Mommy and Daddy had to think about. 

“I know!”  Said Larry.  “I bet he likes angels because he has them around all the time.  Maybe he and the angels play family games like we do sometimes.  Maybe they play Monopoly.”  This made Mommy laugh really hard.

“Or maybe he likes bowling.”  Lee continued.  “I heard someone say that when you hear thunder, that means that God is bowling in heaven.  I bet he is really good at it.”

“I bet he is PERFECT at it!”  Laughed Larry.

“Well boys,”  Mommy finally said after they had come up with lots of silly ideas of what God did for fun, “What God really likes is when people love each other and take care of each other like we do in our family.”  That made sense to Lee and Larry so Lee hugged Mommy and Larry hugged daddy to just make God happy.

“You know what Pastor Johansson told us on Sunday is that God really likes worship.”  Daddy added.

“You mean like when we sing praise songs in Church?”  Larry asked and daddy nodded.  “Well I can make up a worship song.” So Larry jumped to his feet and began to make up a song to a very bad tune.  “Jesus is so cool.  Its fun being with God.  He is the funnest God anyone could have.”  Larry sang very badly so Lee had put his hands over his ears.

“Singing worship songs is good but that’s not the only way to worship.”  Daddy said, maybe to make Larry stop singing.  “There are lots of ways to worship.”

‘LIKE WHAT DADDY, TELL US, TELL US.”  Both boys jumped up and down wanting to know how to make God happy. 

“Well like Mommy said, when we love each other and love the world that Jesus died for, that’s a kind of worship.  When we think about God and listen to the sermon or in Sunday School, that’s a way of worshipping because we are learning how great God is and He likes that.  Or when we sit around and tell each other what the greatest things about God are.  You know how much you like hearing people say how smart or cute you boys are?  Well God likes when we talk together about how great he is.”  Daddy answered.

“I know a game we can play that is like Daddy is talking about.”  Mommy said making both boys want to know the game a lot.  “It’s called ‘What is the best thing about God.  And each of us has to come up with one really great thing we like about God.  Who wants to go first?”  Lee and Larry jumped and shouted “ME ME!” waving their hands in the air like they do at school.  Finally, Mommy said, “Well Lee, since you are two minutes older than Larry, you can go first.”

“Ok,” Lee said and then he stopped and thought.  “The best thing about God is ……… hmmmm……………..”  He puzzled because he had so many things that were great about God but he wanted to pick the best one so he would win the game.  “That he knows everything.  That’s really cool.  That means he can help me with my homework.”  Larry concluded with a proud expression on his face.

“My turn, my turn.”  Larry said eagerly wiggling to get a chance to talk.  “I think the best thing about God is that he can beat up the devil because the devil is scary and mean and ugly and bad and God can beat him up so the devil can’t hurt us like he did those demon filled people in Jesus day.”

Mommy and Daddy hugged the twins because it was getting time to get to bed.  “Mommy thinks the best thing about God is he gave me these two little rascals and they are the best thing in Mommy’s world.”  She said cuddling and tickling both boys.  That was the kind of thing mommies always say.   The giggled and hugged Mommy and were almost ready to go to their bunk beds when Lee said.

“Daddy you didn’t say what the best thing about God is.  You have to play too.”

“Well, I am surprised you all left the very extra best one for me.”  Daddy said with a teasing smile.  “It’s that he sent Jesus to die for us and give us life forever and ever and that because of that we will be a family in heaven for millions of years.  That’s pretty good isn’t it?” 

“Daddy wins!”  The twins declared. 

“This is such a fun game and we had a perfect birthday Daddy.”  Larry added.  “Can we play ‘What’s the best thing about God’ tomorrow too?” he begged his Mommy.

“You can play it anytime you want.”  Daddy answered.  “Because talking about how great God is makes him happy and its worship.  Play it before you go to sleep tonight and when you wake up in the morning and God will be close to you all day long.

“WE WILL.”  They both shouted and they ran to the bedroom bickering about who gets to go first.