A FARMER'S CHRISTMAS TALE

A FARMER’S CHRISTMAS TALE

Thursday, December 31, 2015

Dear fellow travelers,

I can never let this week pass without again airing this old favorite illustrative story. Every time I read or hear it and consider the truth recorded in Philippians it brings tears to my eyes. Be blessed as you read. Bless others by sharing copies.

To serve Him all our days,

Ed

  There was a farmer that didn’t believe in God, and was quite outspoken about religion, Easter, and Christmas. His wife, a believer, raised their children to be God-fearing. The man and his spouse loved each other dearly with sacrificial devotion, but there was always what he deemed “The Difference.”

  One snowy Christmas eve, she prepared to take the children to church. As always, she invited him to go with them. As always, he refused, adding his usual “That story is nonsense! Why would God abase himself by living on earth as a man? That’s ridiculous!” So, as usual, she went, he stayed home.

  Sitting at the kitchen table relaxing with a cup of coffee and a hunk of his wife’s delicious Christmas fruit cake, he noticed the wind rising as the snowing increased. Before long a blizzard developed. He didn’t worry about his family as he knew, if need be, they’d stay with friends near the church.

  Suddenly he was startled by a loud thump against the side of the house, then another soon followed.

  Turning on all the yard lights he couldn’t detect anything so he bundled up and went out into the driving storm to look around. In the yard he found a flock of late traveling southern bound geese. They were obviously disoriented and in despair. Knowing they would be safer in shelter with food, he opened the nearby barn’s big doors.

  Returning inside he, concerned, watched them out the window. They didn’t go in the barn where he had scattered corn on the floor.

  Bundling up again he tried shooing them into the barn. It did not work.

  Then he tried laying a path of corn. It didn’t work.

  Next he tried slices of bread. It didn’t work.

  The frightened geese just kept honking and huddling, not noticing the barn or what it meant to them; nourishment and shelter from the storm.

  “Why don’t they follow my lead . . . can’t they see the only place they can survive the storm?”

  He thought for a moment and realized they wouldn’t follow him, a human. “If only I were a goose, then I could save them.” he said aloud.

  With that realization he went to the barn and gathered one of his domesticated geese in his arms, took her to the yard and released her on the far side of the stressed wild flock. Having full knowledge of good sense, she waddled quickly thru the group. They followed to safety.

  Though quite cold by now, he stood silently with the blizzard howling about him and the icy snow stinging his face. Suddenly it all made sense.

  That is what God had done and he was like those lost geese needing guidance.

  Jesus, his dear wife and children, and others, had been showing him the way of salvation, but he had refused and kept milling about in life.

  Suddenly the revelation of truth overwhelmed him and he fell to his knees, begging God’s forgiveness and trusting Jesus as Redeemer.

  As the wind and snow relented, his soul became quiet and pondered the wonderful simplicity of it all; understanding what Christmas was truly about; the reason Christ had come. He then prayed his first prayer of thanksgiving, “Thank you God for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!”  (Author unknown, rewritten from file notes and memory. EBB4)

Philippians GW 2:6-11 Although he [Jesus] was in the form of God and equal with God, he did not take advantage of this equality. Instead, he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, by becoming like other humans, by having a human appearance. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross. This is why God has given him an exceptional honor- the name honored above all other names- so that at the name of Jesus everyone in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will kneel and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.