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I hope you are greatly blessed by this story that shows how God works all
things out for our good in His own way. Be encouraged to trust the Lord
with your circumstances and know that He loves you and cares for you beyond
your comprehension.
THE MISSING JESUS
About a week before Christmas the family bought a new nativity scene. When
they unpacked it they found 2 figures of the Baby Jesus. “Someone must have
packed this wrong,” the mother said, counting out the figures. “We have one
Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds, two lambs, a donkey, a
cow, an angel and two babies. Oh, dear! I suppose some set down at the
store is missing a Baby Jesus because we have 2.”
“You two run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have an
extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining boxes saying that if
a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call 7126. "Put on your warm coats, it's
freezing cold out there.”
The manager of the store copied down mother's message and the next time
they were in the store they saw the cardboard sign that read, “If you're
missing Baby Jesus, call 7126.”
All week long they waited for someone to call. Surely, they thought,
someone was missing that important figurine. Each time the phone rang
mother would say, "I'll bet that's about Jesus," but it never was. Father
tried to explain there are thousands of these scattered over the country
and the figurine could be missing from a set in Florida or Texas or
California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time. He suggested just
put the extra Jesus back in the box and forget about it. “Put Baby Jesus
back in the box! What a terrible thing to do”, said the children. “Surely
someone will call," mother said. "We'll just keep the two of them together
in the manger until someone calls.”
When no call had come by 5:00 on Christmas Eve, mother insisted that father
“just run down to the store” to see if there were any sets left. “You can
see them right through the window, over on the counter,” she said. “If they
are all gone, I'll know someone is bound to call tonight.” “Run down to the
store?” father thundered. “It's 15 below zero out there!”
“Oh, Daddy, we'll go with you,” Tommy and Mary began to put on their coats.
Father gave a long sigh and headed for the front closet. “I can't believe
I'm doing this,” he muttered.
Tommy and Mary ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out in the cold. Mary
got to the store first and pressed her nose up to the store window. “They
are all gone, Daddy,” she shouted. “Every set must be sold.”
“Hooray,” Tommy said “The mystery will now be solved tonight!” Father heard
the news still a half block away and immediately turned on his heel and
headed back home. When they got back into the house they noticed that
mother was gone and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine. “Someone must
have called and she went out to deliver the figurine,” my father reasoned,
pulling off his boots. “You kids get ready for bed while I wrap mother's
present.”
Then the phone rang. Father yelled “answer the phone and tell'em we found
a home for Jesus.” But it was mother calling with instructions for us to
come to 205 Chestnut Street immediately, and bring three blankets, a box
of cookies and some milk.
“Now what has she gotten us into?” my father groaned as we bundled up
again. “205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk up good in
the blankets or it will turn to ice before we get there. Why can't we all
just get on with Christmas? It's probably 20 below out there now. The wind
is picking up. Of all the crazy things to do on a night like this.”
When they got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street it was the darkest one
on the block. Only one tiny light burned in the living room and, the moment
we set foot on the porch steps, my mother opened the door and shouted,
“They're here, Oh thank God you got here, Ray! You kids take those blankets
into the living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch. I'll take
the milk and cookies.”
“Would you mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?” my father asked. “We
have just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our faces all
the way.” “Never mind all that now,” my mother interrupted. “There is no
heat in this house and this young mother is so upset she doesn't know what
to do. Her husband walked out on her and those poor little children will
have a very bleak Christmas, so don't you complain. I told her you could
fix that oil furnace in a jiffy.”
My mother strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my brother and
I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled together on the
couch. The children's mother explained to my father that her husband had
run off, taking bedding, clothing, and almost every piece of furniture, but
she had been doing all right until the furnace broke down.
“I been doing washing and ironing for people and cleaning the five and
dime,” she said. “I saw your number every day there, on those boxes on the
counter. When the furnace went out, that number kept going through my
mind, 7162 7162, that is what it said on the box. If a person is missing
Jesus, they should call 7162 7162. That's how I knew you were good
Christian people, willing to help folks. I figured that maybe you would
help me, too. So I stopped at the grocery store tonight and I called your
miss's. I'm not missing Jesus, mister, because I sure love the Lord. But I
am missing heat. I have no money to fix that furnace.”
“Okay, Okay!” said father. “You've come to the right place. Now let’s see.
You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining room. Shouldn't be
too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged flue. I'll look it over, see what
it needs.”
Mother came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and warm milk.
As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I noticed the figure of Baby
Jesus lying in the center of the table. It was the only sign of Christmas
in the house. The children stared wide-eyed with wonder at the plate of
cookies my mother set before them.
Father finally got the oil burner working but said you need more oil. I'll
make a few calls tonight and get some oil. Yes, sir, you came to the right
place, father grinned.
On the way home father did not complain about the cold weather and had
barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone.
“Ed, hey, how are ya, Ed?” “Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say Ed, we
have kind of an unusual situation here. I know you've got that pickup
truck. Do you still have some oil in that barrel on your truck? You do?”
By this time the rest of the family were pulling clothes out of their
closets and toys off of their shelves. It was long after their bedtime
when they were wrapping gifts. The pickup came. On it were chairs, three
lamps, blankets and gifts. Even though it was 30 below, father let them
ride along in the back of the truck.
No one ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set, but as
I grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing mistake at all.
Author Unknown
Read and meditate on these scriptures:
1 John 3:16-18 “Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down
His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But
whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth
up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed
and in truth.”
Philippians 2:13-15 “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to
do of His good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in
the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights
in the world.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth
not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself
unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity
never faileth...”
All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.
Today’s Selected Poem: THIS MOMENT
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem45.htm
Today’s Selected Testimony: MADE STRONG THROUGH WEAKNESS
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony183.htm
In Christ’s Service,
Dwayne Savaya
Gods Work Ministry |
