**This is not a political post**
Once upon a time, a teenager became pregnant. She was really excited about it, but her boyfriend wasn’t. See, he was not the father of the baby. Things were a little dicey between them for a bit. The teen was an immigrant living in a culture where if her boyfriend didn’t marry her, there’d be serious consequences for her. I don’t know if she did any pleading, but it was a miracle that he agreed to marry her and love that baby like his own. They didn’t rush to the courthouse to make the baby look legitimate. Instead, they decided to wait until after the baby was born.
Not long before the baby was due, pregnant mama and her fiance had to go back to his home country because of tax issues. Everyone knows that you shouldn’t travel especially internationally when you’re days away from delivery, but they had no choice. If you have ever been pregnant, you know the last days of your pregnancy are no happy, comfortable picnic. But back they went. The town they stayed in was hosting a big event, so all the places to stay were booked. Because it was so last minute, they hadn’t make any reservations. We can’t blame the fiance though because it was first-come-first-served. And of course, what should happen? Mama gives birth to a baby boy in the parking lot. Can you imagine having your first baby as a teenager in parking lot? No thanks.
After they resolved the tax issues, the little family stayed with their anchor baby in his birth country. When they took the baby to church to dedicate him, a couple of older saints were so thrilled that they said they could die happy. That was the best baby dedication ever.
Two years into the boy’s life, a handful of wealthy astronomers traveled internationally to see him. They didn’t have his home address, so they started at the capital city of the boy’s birth country. They stopped by the capitol building to talk to the president and told him about the baby they were going to see. The president hadn’t heard about the kid but was really interested in their stories. The boy sounded like someone he needed to know.
Eventually, the scientists found his home. Sometimes it takes a bit to find your way around a new country. Once the scientists saw the boy and gave him the gifts they’d brought him, they went home. They won the award for longest distance traveled. After they left, Daddy and Mama decided to move little boy back to the country where they’d fallen in love. Because moving internationally with a two-year-old is a blast. The president found out that the scientists had gone home without visiting him again, so he signed an executive order saying all baby boys 2 and under in that city where the boy had been born should be murdered. Take note you frequent movers: moving could save your life.
The incredible ending to that story is that baby came to give life, not wealth or power. He came to restore order to what was broken. As we celebrate Christmas this year, take His lead. Be life-giving. Mend what’s broken. And take time to love on someone in your periphery–the pregnant teen, the immigrant, the two year old, the people who don’t feel like they belong, the people whose situation you don’t approve of, the needy, the hungry, the homeless. Your care could change history. And it certainly will change someone else’s story.
