The Christmas Story

I have a little book on my shelves, cardboard-bound and covered front and back with fabric. Its content is typed; the art is hand-drawn; the author is my son Greg. The occasion was a grade-school assignment and the title is “If I Were in Charge of the World.”

All I can say is, thank heaven he isn’t! In the space of twenty pages Greg canceled homework, nixed the idea of cleaning one’s room, and eliminated his brothers, cats, and sickness (okay, Ill give him that one). He also pronounced sugar a vegetable and went on to callously obliterate the entire Steelers football team (sorry, Ben). He ended by covering all his bases:

“And a person who forgot to do his homework
and sometimes forgot to clean his room
would still be allowed to be in charge of the world.”

I wonder what he’d have written if the assignment were “If I Were in Charge of the First Christmas”? I wonder what you or I would have written? Pastor Ben mentioned Sunday that “in my story, the glory of God would have lasted all night.” I think we all would tend to minimize the hard parts and the puzzling or painful places, and major on the joy and glory and good news.

Written by us, we’d have a Jesus who enjoyed a life of privilege that few could identify with. Jesus would have been born in a pristine setting in Nazareth, with grandmas and grandpas close at hand. And everyone would have welcomed Him. But part of the glory of the Christmas story is in those hard places. In the long, difficult journey. The separation from kin. The birth in a stable. Being hated and hunted by Herod.

Yet God could be trusted with that story, couldn’t He? He knew what He was doing – fulfilling prophecy, identifying with the poorest and most insignificant, becoming nothing for us.

He can be trusted with your story, and mine, too. It’s foolish to try to grab the pen from His hand and write “If I Were in Charge of My Life.” We’d eliminate the very things that God meant to use for glory. Better to gaze in wonder at the manger scene this Christmas, and reaffirm to our Creator, “Lord, You are in charge of my story. Write what You want. I trust You with all of my heart.”