from Ron Rose
December 22, 2008

Preparation

Imagine you are writing a script for Back to the Future IV. For this new adventure you plan to take Marty and Doc back to Bethlehem, in Judea, 4 BC (they can adjust the exact date once they get there).

After the appropriate set-up you send the Delorean time machine to the hill country of Judah. It lands just west of Bethlehem on what was then called the "Patriarchal Highway."

The little village seems very dirty and a tad ordinary, nothing like the mysterious oasis-town pictured on Christmas cards. It had been a long time since Samuel anointed David there. And Micah’s prediction that the Messiah would be born there had definitely lost its punch.

Just as your story introduces Marty and Doc to a surprised group of shepherds, HIS story takes over. The light was blinding, but at the same time illuminating. Every eye was drawn heavenward. What seemed like an endless number of angels crowded the sky and one began to speak. His voice was thunderous, and demanding, but strangely inviting. “Don’t be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy… for there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Then the crowd of angels cried out, “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to all who God favors.” Was God invading earth and bringing peace…real inner peace?

The birth of the baby Jesus begins God’s invasion story, and with God’s invasion comes peace, not the illusion of peace, or the prayer for peace, but the gift of peace. But only empty hands can accept the gift. Surrender your story, your expectations, and enter God’s story. You’ll experience peace beyond imagination...unexplainable peace.

Leave your story in the field, hanging in the air, and open the gift only God can give, the gift you can accept or refuse. You can refuse his unexpected gift, or you can be forever changed by it.

After the announcement of peace, one shepherd complains that nothing has changed, that his sheep are still in danger, and they still wander off. He is still cold and hungry and lonely. Another shepherd explains that he is able to arrive just when danger threatens, and he has found a new coat and shared food with friends. After all, he is a shepherd for God now; everything has changed.

Jesus brought peace, but only this last shepherd was changed by it. His eyes saw a new world and a new story for his life. All his struggles became fresh opportunities for God to show up, so the shepherd could relax and watch God in action. The first shepherd is still miserable.

The gift of God’s peace doesn’t mean everything will work out; it doesn’t mean the shepherd won’t experience heartaches or tragedies. However, it’s God story now, and the shepherd will have inner peace either way.

Inspiration

Decades ago, J. B. Phillips wrote a short story that deserves to be told this time of the year. It begins like this…

Once upon a time a very young angel was being shown round the splendors and glories of the universes by a senior and experienced angel. To tell the truth, the little angel was beginning to be tired and a little bored. He had been shown whirling galaxies and blazing suns, infinite distances in the deathly cold of inter-stellar space, and to his mind there seemed to be an awful lot of it all. Finally he was shown the galaxy of which our planetary system is but a small part. As the two of them drew near to the star which we call our sun and to its circling planets, the senior angel pointed to a small and rather insignificant sphere turning very slowly on its axis. It looked as dull as a dirty tennis-ball to the little angel, whose mind was filled with the size and glory of what he had seen.

“I want you to watch that one particularly,” said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.

“Well, it looks very small and rather dirty to me,” said the little angel. “What's special about that one?”

“That,” replied his senior, solemnly, “is the Visited Planet.”

“Visited?” said the little one. “You don't mean visited by --------?

“Indeed I do. That ball, which I have no doubt looks to you small and insignificant and not perhaps over-clean, has been visited by our young Prince of Glory.” And at these words he bowed his head reverently.

“But how?” queried the younger one. “Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince, with all these wonders and splendors of His Creation, and millions more that I'm sure I haven't seen yet, went down in Person to this fifth-rate little ball? Why should He do a thing like that?”

“It isn't for us,” said his senior a little stiffly, “to question His 'why's', except that I must point out to you that He is not impressed by size and numbers, as you seem to be. But that He really went I know, and all of us in Heaven who know anything know that. As to why He became one of them - how else do you suppose could He visit them?”

The little angel’s face wrinkled in disgust.

“Do you mean to tell me,” he said, “that He stooped so low as to become one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?”

“I do, and I don't think He would like you to call them 'creeping, crawling creatures' in that tone of voice. For, strange as it may seem to us, He loves them. He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like Him.”

The little angel looked blank. Such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.

Motivation

Faith means the visit changed everything.

His story must replace your story or you will never find peace; it will always be just beyond your reach. When you accept the gift, your life is bought-out and bailed-out by Jesus.

Accepting the gift transports you from your version of the future to your place in God’s future. So, take a deep breath. Thank God for Jesus. Take a deep breath. Accept the gift of peace, regardless of where you are or what you’re going through.

Listen for the angels. Ge is still visiting and still giving peace…the peace that comes by letting God write your future.

Oh, come let us adore HIM, Christ the Lord.”