Into the Barn

I heard this story from Paul Harvey several years ago. It is a wonderful Christmas illustration.

John was a man who lived on a farm with his family. While his wife was religious and attended church faithfully, he never went.

"I don't believe all that religious stuff." he said. "I mean that stuff about virgins conceiving or dead men coming back to life or God becoming man. It just doesn't make any sense."

One Christmas eve, the wife had take the children to church while John stayed home. Later, it began to snow heavily.

Thud.

John looked out the window and found bird had hit his living room window in the snow storm.

Thud. Thud.

A whole flock of birds were landing in his yard.

"They'll die if they don't get under some shelter" John thought. So he put on his boots and coat and went and opened the barn door and turned on the light in the barn.

"There. They can go into the barn and that will save them" he thought. But the birds kept landing in his yard. So he put on his boots and coat again and tried to shoo the birds into the barn. But everywhere we went among the birds, they just fluttered up out of his way and landed back on the yard.

"Stupid Birds" he thought. "I'm just so big that all I do is scare them. They're too frightened of me to follow me into the barn. If only I could become a bird - for just a moment, then I could lead them into the barn and they would live."

At that moment, the church bells rang to announce the birth of the Savior. John was overcome with emotion and fell to his knees and said: "Lord, I now know why you had to become a man. You had to lead us into the barn."

May you all have a blessed feast of the Incarnation.

YBIC,
Phil Snyder