Christmas Story - The Man and The Birds
Christmas Story - The Man and the Birds
Now the man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge. He was a kind, decent, mostly good man, generous to his family and upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to earth as a man.
“I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve.” He said he’d feel like a hypocrite and that he’d much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed, and they went to the midnight service.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window.
But when he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window. Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.
Quickly he put on a coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs and sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted, wide-open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow.
He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn. And then, he realized, that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of someway to let them know that they can trust me – that I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how, because any move he made tended to frighten and confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
“If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm . . . . . . . . . to the safe, warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.”
At that moment, the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells – listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.;
- WRITTEN BY PAUL HARVEY –
+++
Paul Harvey was a master at telling a story! The fact that this is a story which is original with him speaks of his own faith!
There are many people who struggle with the truths of the Christmas story. That God, if there is a God, would come to earth as a human being is more than some people can accept as being true. But what is the truth?
The truth is that most people who are not Christians live in fear even the idea of a God existing. The thought of a God each and every person would one day be accountable too moves them to deny even the idea of God!
But what is the truth? The truth is that inside each human heart is the innate understanding there is something more to our lives than this material world! We all know God exists! The question is what are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue to deny His existence or accept the truth that He is there, and we will all one day stand before Him?
The fact that God exists is undeniable. The truth is also that He is absolutely holy and wholly beyond our ability to know or connect with. This is what Christmas is all about! When we could not go to God, He chose to come into this world in a way we could truly relate too!
He did not come in glory with all the pomp and circumstance we could have expected from the King of glory. He chose to come in a way which was absolutely less than intimidating. What could be less intimidating than a newborn baby?
When God chose to come into this world He chose to come in a way which would not scare us but draw us to Him. He chose to become one of us! Just like us in every way. He came in a way we could understand so that He could lead us to the warmth and safety if His Father’s grace.
Like the birds who needed a guide who would not scare them away, but lead them to life, Jesus was born to show is the way to reach eternity and the warmth and safety of God’s love. Christmas is a time to pause and give thanks for the gift of life. We have been rescued from the cold and darkness of sin and shown the way to true life.
May you be blessed as you celebrate the birth of your Savior! He came as the Father’s Christmas gift to you!
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Russ
Now the man to whom I’m going to introduce you was not a scrooge. He was a kind, decent, mostly good man, generous to his family and upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff which the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to earth as a man.
“I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve.” He said he’d feel like a hypocrite and that he’d much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. And so he stayed, and they went to the midnight service.
Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper. Minutes later, he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another, and then another. Sort of a thump or a thud. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against his living room window.
But when he went to the front door to investigate, he found a flock of birds huddled miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and, in a desperate search for shelter, had tried to fly through his large landscape window. Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter, if he could direct the birds to it.
Quickly he put on a coat and galoshes and tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light, but the birds did not come in. He figured food would entice them in. So he hurried back to the house, fetched bread crumbs and sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail to the yellow-lighted, wide-open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs and continued to flap around helplessly in the snow.
He tried catching them. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around them waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction, except into the warm, lighted barn. And then, he realized, that they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of someway to let them know that they can trust me – that I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how, because any move he made tended to frighten and confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.
“If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm . . . . . . . . . to the safe, warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.”
At that moment, the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind. And he stood there listening to the bells – listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow.;
- WRITTEN BY PAUL HARVEY –
+++
Paul Harvey was a master at telling a story! The fact that this is a story which is original with him speaks of his own faith!
There are many people who struggle with the truths of the Christmas story. That God, if there is a God, would come to earth as a human being is more than some people can accept as being true. But what is the truth?
The truth is that most people who are not Christians live in fear even the idea of a God existing. The thought of a God each and every person would one day be accountable too moves them to deny even the idea of God!
But what is the truth? The truth is that inside each human heart is the innate understanding there is something more to our lives than this material world! We all know God exists! The question is what are we going to do about it? Are we going to continue to deny His existence or accept the truth that He is there, and we will all one day stand before Him?
The fact that God exists is undeniable. The truth is also that He is absolutely holy and wholly beyond our ability to know or connect with. This is what Christmas is all about! When we could not go to God, He chose to come into this world in a way we could truly relate too!
He did not come in glory with all the pomp and circumstance we could have expected from the King of glory. He chose to come in a way which was absolutely less than intimidating. What could be less intimidating than a newborn baby?
When God chose to come into this world He chose to come in a way which would not scare us but draw us to Him. He chose to become one of us! Just like us in every way. He came in a way we could understand so that He could lead us to the warmth and safety if His Father’s grace.
Like the birds who needed a guide who would not scare them away, but lead them to life, Jesus was born to show is the way to reach eternity and the warmth and safety of God’s love. Christmas is a time to pause and give thanks for the gift of life. We have been rescued from the cold and darkness of sin and shown the way to true life.
May you be blessed as you celebrate the birth of your Savior! He came as the Father’s Christmas gift to you!
Merry Christmas,
Pastor Russ
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