Grandbaby
number ten watch … still waiting.
Yesterday Christina had a doctor’s appointment and we watched the
kids. Upfront, all was well with
her. Blood pressure perfect. Baby sounds great, growing well. they even made her an appointment for next
Wednesday. She doesn’t really think
she’ll be keeping that appointment. That
will be fine as long as that little whippersnapper can hold off until after our
church party tonight. It is, after all,
happening at our house.
I
had staff meeting yesterday morning at the church, and when I got back the kids
were playing at an unusual game. All
four of them, from 13 year-old Jachin to 3 year-old Noa, were on the floor in
the study with the Fisher-Price manger scene paraphernalia. They had each claimed a portion of the
characters and structures and were constructing the little town of
Bethlehem. They were also quite shrewd
developers. Josiah was obviously a
merchant. And the seat of town
government. They were calling his place “City
Hall.” He had a market right near the
town well. He was also apparently in the
process of quietly taking over said well for his own economic purposes. He had a wall of sorts built around his
establishment. Micah on the other hand,
had a quaint little home just outside of town.
I heard him say at one point, “Welcome to our village, Mary and Joseph.” Hmm. And
at one point Micah’s character, who happened to be riding a camel that spent
its days lolling around on two of his house’s beds (As I was informed, part of the reason why there was no room anywhere in
town was that all the camels required two beds), approached for a
drink. Josiah attempted to extract an illegal
fee for said access, but Micah, with an especially adept negotiation skill, held
his ground. “That is a public well and I’m
gonna use it,” he insisted. And as is
the case with most governmental bureaucratic bullies, the well-keeper backed
down.
Somewhere
before compromise prevailed, amidst the tense moments of conflict, as the
arguing grew louder and louder and the marketplace threatened to become the site
of a Bethlehem debacle of epic proportions, Noa stood up with a single
character in her hand. One tiny little
personality held in her – in another world - equally tiny little hand. And holding that wee plastic one out in front
of her, Noa suddenly, and loudly, and in a commanding voice that would make any
army general proud, screamed at the top of her lungs, “Hey everybody! Get ready, ‘cause Baby Jesus is coming!” Best angelic host announcement I have ever
heard.
Apparently
the baby was indeed born, because a while later Jachin’s characters decided to
come for a visit. They lived quite far
away, kind of to the East of Josiah’s establishment. His place looked more like a sheikdom than
anything else. There were obviously
wealthy people in his camp, and it was those gentlemen of substance who made the
decision to travel over to Josiah’s City Hall and present the little baby everyone
was talking about with some gifts. The
gifts? Why, gold, Frankenstein and
myrrh, of course. However, I think the
city fathers must have objected to the importation of the Frankenstein
monster. They absolutely refused
admittance to the City Hall. Wouldn’t even
negotiate. So Jachin did what any
self-respecting first-born would do. He
forced his way through the make-shift wall, destroying any opposition in his
wake. “Our intentions were good,” he
insisted. “It was just so we could
deliver the gifts to the little baby.”
And
there you have it. The entire story of the
first Christmas as acted out by four siblings while they waited for a tiny baby
of their own to arrive. And as of now,
their wait continues …
Micah
5:2 says, “But as for you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth
for Me to be ruler in Israel.”
Father,
be with us all as we wait patiently for this next little one. Amen.
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