Page 4 - Good News December2006 paper
P. 4

It cost Mary and Joseph the comforts of home during a long period
          One of the most beautiful of all     As  night  began  to  fall,  the      of exile in Egypt to protect the little Babe.
          Christmas  stories  was  told  by    cobbler  heard  a  child  crying      It cost mothers in and around Bethlehem the massacre of their
          the  American  poet,  Edwin  outside his door. The child was               babies by the cruel order of Herod.
          Markham,  about  a  cobbler,  a      lost and afraid. The cobbler went     It cost the shepherds the complacency of their shepherds’ life, with
          godly  man  who  made  shoes  in     out,  soothed  the  youngster's       the call to the manger and to tell the Good News.
          the  old  days.  One  night  the     tears and, with the little hand in    It cost the wise men a long journey and expensive gifts and changed
          cobbler dreamt that the next day     his, took the child home.             lives.
          Jesus was coming to visit him.       When  he  returned,  the  cobbler     It cost the early apostles and the early church persecution and
          The dream seemed so real that        was sad. He was convinced that        sometimes death.
          he  got  up  very  early  the  next   while he had been away he had        It cost missionaries of Christ untold suffering and privation to
          morning  and  hurried  to  the  missed the visit of his Lord. Now          spread the Good News.
          woods, where he gathered green       he lived through the moments as       It cost Christian martyrs in all ages their lives for Christ’s sake.
          boughs to decorate his shop for      he  had  imagined  them:  the         More than all this, it cost God the Father His own Son - He sent Him
          the arrival of so great a Guest.     knock,  the  latch  lifted,  the      to the earth to save men.
          He waited all morning, but to his    radiant face, the offered cup. He     It cost Jesus a life of sacrifice and service, a death cruel and
          dismay, his shop remained quiet,     would  have  kissed  the  Hands       unmatched in history!
          except  for  an  old  man  who       where  the  nails  had  been,
          limped up to the door asking to      washed  the  Feet  where  the
          come  in  for  a  few  minutes  of   spikes  had  entered.  Then  the
          warmth.  While  the  man  was        Lord would have sat and talked
          resting, the cobbler noticed that    with him.
          the old fellow's shoes were worn     In his anguish, the cobbler cried
          out. Touched, the cobbler took a     out, "Why is it, Lord, that Your             ot  long  ago,  a  professor  of  Psychology  in  one  of  our  great
          new  pair  from  his  shelves  and   feet  delay?  Have  you  forgotten           universities gave a “word suggestion test” to his class of 40
          saw  to  it  that  the  stranger  was   that  this  was  the  day?"  Then,  Nstudents.
          wearing them as he went on his       soft  in  the  silence  a  Voice  he   He instructed them to write the word “Christmas,” and all the class did
          way.                                 heard:                                so. “Now,” said the professor, “right after the word ‘Christmas’ write
          Throughout  the  afternoon  the      "Lift up your heart for I kept My     the first thought that flashes through your mind regarding that day.”
          cobbler  waited,  but  his  only     word. Three times I came to your      When the papers were turned in, such answers were given as “tree,”
          visitor was an elderly woman. He     friendly door;                        “holly,”  “mistletoe,”  “presents,”  “turkey,”  “holiday,”  “carols,”  and
          had seen her struggling under a      Three times My shadow was on          “Santa Claus,” but not one had written, “the birth of Jesus.”
          heavy load of firewood, and he       your floor.                           As there was no room for the baby Jesus in the inn, there is hardly any
          invited her, too, into his shop to   I was the man with the bruised        room for Him today in the celebration of Christmas.
          rest. Then he discovered that for    feet.
          two days she had had nothing to      I was the woman you gave food
          eat; he saw to it that she had a     to eat.
          nourishing meal before she went      I was the child on the homeless
          on her way.                          street.”   www.e-sword.net
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