The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still. Exodus 14:14
When I was young, a few super heroes filled our movie screen with super-human acts of amazing power that always saved the day when someone was in trouble. I was especially enamored with Superman and absolutely amazed that he could just fly through the skies and be in the right place at the right time to defeat the evil enemies of good people. Oh, there were tense moments when I thought this might be the time when his super powers failed. I recall being exceptionally nervous when the enemy overpowered Superman by exposing him to kryptonite, a radioactive ore from his home planet, Krypton, that interferes with his body’s ability to process earths sunlight from which he gains his powers. How in the world would he ever overcome, but the writers always found a way.
Super heroes were such an attraction to young minds that writers scrambled to create more. Batman, Spiderman, and Wonder Woman were some of my favorites and I never missed the Saturday afternoon matinee at our local theater. Bear in mind, I had to walk the mile and a half to town, but it was worth the effort just to see those amazing characters brought to life on that gigantic screen.
Today’s kids have a host of super heroes and super villains at their fingertips. The digital world is filled with names that I don’t know or understand, but you can be sure your kids and grandkids will be asking for action figures of their favorites for Christmas. At some point, we all have to grow up, at least chronologically. Unfortunately, many of us hang on to those old habits of expecting a “super hero” to swoop in and fix all our problems. The thing is, only Jesus has the super powers needed to clean up our messes and it’s his birthday we celebrate in a few weeks.
It’s during these four weeks of Advent that you have an opportunity to introduce your children and grandchildren to Jesus, the man. A real honest-to-goodness human super hero. He came from God and he lived with the people of his time. Tell your kids about his birth in details they can understand; the long trip his parents made to Bethlehem on foot, the innkeepers who turned them away because their inns were full, but then one offered them a stable. Jesus was born in that stable with farm animals as his audience. Bring it to life for them. Describe the heat of the desert day and then the cool refreshment of the night, the sounds and smells of the animals. Remind them Jesus didn’t have a comfy bed to sleep in. There was only an animal feed trough filled with itchy, pokey hay for him to lay in. Introduce them to the lowly shepherds who came to visit. Explain the great light that appeared in the sky and the angels descending over the stable. Help them really feel the wonder of that night.
And each evening, continue to tell them stories of His life here among the very people His own Father created. Most importantly, teach them to talk with Jesus, an open and honest conversation. Let them know he is their friend and they can share their deepest secrets
with him. Help them to feel his presence. That’s the message of Christmas, that Jesus came because he loves us and wants to be our friend and helper. Young minds can grasp the concept, so help them to get “hooked” on Jesus early in life and then when trouble comes their way, as it will, no matter how hard life gets, when they get so far away from what’s right that no rescue seems possible, they’ll remember those talks with their friend, Jesus, and the prayers will resume. The conversation will continue. Hope is only a prayer away.
On the day I called, you answered me….Psalm 138:3a NLT
Super heroes are entertaining but they’re only a figment of a writer’s imagination and lots of very technical special effects. I find it interesting to note that Superman’s antidote to the dangerous kryptonite was sunlight. Our antidote to evil is Son-light. And though our super hero came amid the silence of the night and was soon visited by lowly shepherds, the angels lit the sky with such a spectacle of light that it would make today’s special effects look tiny in comparison. Jesus is our light and he wants to be your best friend and mine. Won’t you start the conversation? And perhaps during the course of this Advent season, along with your children or grandchildren, you can rekindle a relationship with Him that can last an eternity.
