Tires. That’s what my husband told me we were getting for Christmas. Recently we made the decision that while visiting my parents in Michigan over the holidays we would go across the border to visit my grandparents near London, Ontario. That choice also meant we needed new tires on the Honda.
Well, merry christmas to us.
So, last Saturday we loaded up the van and headed over the river and thru the woods, over the mountain and down into the Sequatchie Valley to Dunlap, TN. Oh yes. The booming metropolis of Dunlap. for tires. yep.
We decided to make our purchase there because Michael’s coworker had given us the low-down about this place, and the good deals. He sang their praises, of great prices and quality tires, with excellent service. Of course it was impossible to pass up the opportunity, so that was where we had to go.
When we arrived, I saw the truth of the matter, for my own eyes. As we pulled around back, into the alley behind the old hardware store, I began to feel skeptical. Old tires and new tires piled everywhere. Expensive luxury cars, and old beaters were waiting in line together. It all seemed highly suspect. And I couldn’t help but ask myself:
Is this really it? Is this my Christmas? Surely this can’t be the place…
sigh…
And as we sat there in the alley, literally jacked up, waiting our turn for the blessed new tires, I couldn’t help but wonder.
Is this how the Shepherds felt?
I mean, after all, there they were in the fields with their sheep, completely caught off guard by the news. The angels declared, “He’s here! He’s here! The prince of peace has arrived! Follow the star and go to Him!” And as they head out on the journey, still in a bit of a fog after all the excitement, they’re just about to leave the pasture when the angel says, “Oh, and by the way, He’s in a barn, in a manger…”
say what?
Now, if I had been a shepherd, I think that last bit of information would have caused me to pause for just a moment… “I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” I’m sure as we worked our way toward the star I would have been trying to convince my fellow travelers, “Doesn’t it look like we’re headed toward the governor’s palace?” or, “Really, that star seems to be shining right over top of the Ritz-Carlton,” “Surely He’s not actually in a barn…”
“And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the manger…”
This just can’t be my Christmas… can it?
The King of Kings didn’t come to earth the way I would have expected. I can’t speak for the shepherds, but it certainly seems to me as though the Prince of Peace did not arrive in appropriate royal fashion. No, He came in the most weak and poor, unassuming way, without pomp and circumstance. It was unlikely. unusual. unsuspecting.
But He came just the way He planned. He made himself of no reputation. Humbly He began preparing to be The Savior. With this lowly beginning, He gave his life, so that all could have life. All of us.
Just think -one of the most unusual gifts of all time, across the ages has become the most valuable… God himself, here, dwelling with us. Back then, who would have suspected how it would turn out? Not me. certainly not me.
Here’s a bit of the story to think over again. and again. So surreal… yet wonderfully, absolutely gloriously true!
15 So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. 17 Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. 18 And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things and pondered themin her heart. 20 Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.
daily portion 