In His Image...but He became ours

     There once was a man who did not believe all of this Christmas stuff.  He could not conceive that God would have ever stooped so low as to be a baby on this earth.  This man was a husband and a father who lived on a farm.  All of his family were believers except for him.  No matter how his wife and kids tried to convince him of the miracle of Christmas he could not and would not believe that God would ever come to earth as a baby.

     One Christmas Eve, the man's family all loaded up in the family SUV and went to their local church's service.  All of the family except the unbelieving man.  Shortly after his family left a snow storm kicked up outside.  The man heard some comotion outside near his barn.  He looked out to see a whole flock of geese wandering around in his barnyard.  They all seemed so stressed and confused by the big snow storm.  It seemed that they were late in their migration flight and caught in this snow storm and did not know how to react or what they should do.  The winds became too strong for them to continue to fly.

     The man thought, "What can I do?  They need some sort of help or they won't survive."  He then realized he had a large, nice, warm barn that they could use to stay warm in until the storm calmed down.  So he bundled himself up and went outside to see if he could get the geese into his warm barn.  He opened the doors wide in hopes that they would go in.  They steered away from him and the barn.  He then laid bread crumbs down to lead the geese into the barn.  They would not go.  No matter what he would do the geese would not go into the barn.  The man thought  "What can I do.  Every time I try to do something to save them they run away from me.  I'm a human and they are geese.  They don't want to have anything to do with something that's not like them.  If only there was a way that I could become like them and lead them into the barn I could save them." 

     If only he could become like them, he could save them.  That thought resonated with him.  He suddenly realized what he was thinking and how this solved the delima he had been struggling with in his own heart and mind for years.  God had been a heavenly Holy Spirit, but until He became like us as a baby, we shyed away from Him.  Any attempts that He made to lead us to safety, to truly save us, was averted by us until He became one of us.  Once He became one of us we felt more at ease and followed Him so He could save us.

     Finally through the grace of God the geese went into the barn for safety out of the storm.  The barn was filled with the honking and chatter of the geese and they were saved.  Later on the night the family returned.  The man shared with his family what had happened both to the geese and in his own heart.  He ended his tale about the geese by saying their honking must have been the geese' way of praising Him in the storm.  It suddenly became the best Christmas of this family's life, and the first one where the father thoroughly understood what His Father had done for him and for all of us.

     As we go through this Christmas season, realize why God came to earth as a baby, to be like us.  He created us in His image, but He had to become like us to lead us, to save us.  When it's all said and done make sure you become like the geese and praise Him in the storms.