A Power Drill Christmas

Several years ago my husband was doing a children's sermon during the Christmas Eve service. The children left their seats and surrounded Kevin as he sat on the floor at the front of the church. Kevin was talking about gifts so had brought a few props - presents that had been wrapped without first being placed in boxes.

The children had no trouble guessing that the mummy-wrapped item was a teddy bear or that the round package was a basketball. They were stumped, however, by an L-shaped gift. After many guesses, Kevin unwrapped it.

A cordless power drill.

Kevin handed the tool to a boy while he continued making his point of Jesus being God's gift to us at Christmas.

One problem.

Kevin had forgotten to take out the battery. Suddenly his sermon was highjacked by a young boy with a fully functioning power tool.

I have never seen my husband move so fast.

Thinking back on that children's sermon I realize that we had unwittingly witnessed the truth of the Christmas story. To the average observer Jesus was just a baby, innocent and harmless. Ordinary. A helpless newborn, wrapped in swaddling, taking a nap in a feed box.

But under his skin, in his blood, was the king of the galaxies. It was God who climbed into that manger.

Talk about hidden power.

I love this quote: Anyone can see at this point this story isn't manmade. Who would ever believe it? If I were making up a religion I wanted people to believe in, I'd never insert stuff like this. Only God could tell a story this ludicrous and then claim it's true. - Steven James in Story.

An incredible, who-can-believe-it story. That's the story of Christmas and this year I want to see beyond the simple manger-scene package and discover the God who lies there with life-changing power.

- from my archives