Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday!

Long, long ago there was a boy named Tommy, who lived with his mother and father in a cabin in the woods. Christmas and Tommy�s birthday, were soon approaching; both were on the same day. Since Christmas was only a week away, Tommy and his friend Jake sat in their favorite place; a huge stump under a large fur tree in their secret hiding place. They sat and talked about their favorite subject; PRESENTS. They talked for a long time about all the presents they hoped they would get for Christmas that year. Although many presents were mentioned, the most popular present for Jake was a pocket knife; one like his dad had. For Tommy, what he wanted most of all was a wooden sled, a new wooden sled. He wanted to use it on Klondike hill; their favorite sliding spot.

Not long after there dreaming of presents and Christmas, Jake had to spoil it by reminding them that their parents didn�t have any money that year. They knew that deep down they would be very lucky if they even received a single present from their parents. Both Tommy and Jake�s families were poor farmers, and both of their family�s had poor crops that year. On top of all that, Tommy�s mother had also been very sick too and that worried him. At that thought, Tommy and Jake stood at the same time, and with a frown on their faces they waved good bye and headed to their homes for supper.

That night for Tommy�s school work, he was asked by his mother to read a story from the bible. Tommy didn�t like to read from the bible very much, because it really didn�t seem very important to him. He thought that the stories were a bunch of tall tales and really not very important at all. However, there was one story that Tommy really liked a lot; the story about Jesus� birth. Not because of the star, not because of the miracle of the birth of the Christ child, not even because of the angles. What Tommy liked the most about this story, was the part about the three wise men who came to give all the wonderful presents to baby Jesus. As Tommy read to his parents, he finally got to his favorite part of the story. He read from Matthew 2:11 where it says: �And opening their treasures, they presented gifts to Him, gold and frankincense and myrrh.� Tommy stopped reading and started to imagine what all the wonderful and mysterious presents those might have been. He didn�t know what frankincense and myrrh were, but he knew what gold was. He stopped to ponder all of this for a long while, and then suddenly Tommy�s mother coughed weakly. He could tell his mother was getting tired so he put the bible down and went to kiss her good night. As Tommy leaned over to kiss his mother, she said in a weak voice, �Tommy, you know we don�t have any money for the sled you have been wanting this year.� Tommy slumped in her arms at her saying that. �Have you been praying for one like I told you to do?� Tommy said, �Mom, you know I don�t believe in that stuff.� She said, �Honey, that story you were reading is true, and Jesus was born and he did die for our sins. And if God can come and be born as a baby in a manger, he can certainly provide sleds to little boys who pray.� Tommy thought he would have to agree to pray when her arms went limp and she fell asleep. Tommy was thankful that she spoke so softly that his dad didn�t hear her. Tommy�s dad rose from his rocking chair and patted his head, and at the same time touching his mother�s cheek. Tommy looked up to see his dad�s eyes were closed and he saw his lips move. He recognized that he was praying for his mother and he thought maybe for him too. Then Tommy�s dad opened his eyes and looked kindly at Tommy and said; �Now son, you better get to bed too.� With that, Tommy slowly walked to the loft and climbed up into his bed. With a single �Good night Dad�, he was a sleep.

A few days later, Tommy�s dad said: �Son, let�s brighten up this dreary place and go and get a Christmas tree. That might make your mother feel a little better.� They found a beautiful tree not far from their house, that they knew that his mom would love. It took some time for them to cut down the tree and get it back to the cabin. When they got back from their expedition, Tommy was so excited to show his mother, he ran almost through the door. When he opened the door and ran in, he saw something at his feet. After his eyes adjusted to the dark cabin, he saw his mother lying on the floor; not moving. Tommy ran outside and yelled for his dad: �Dad, come quick, mom is on the floor and not moving.� Tommy�s dad rushed in and felt her forehead and said with a serious look, �She�s burning up with fever.� As Tommy�s dad put her in bed, he said quietly; �Tommy, I have to go and get the doctor in town. There is a storm coming and I might not be back until morning. You must stay close to your mother and try to keep her fever down.� Then Tommy�s dad rushed out of the cabin to saddle his horse. Tommy poked his head out the door in time to see his dad give him a quick wave with a look of concern on his face. Tommy stood as tall as he could as if to give confidence to his dad that he could take care of his mom. With that, his dad grinned and then rode off at a gallop; into the snow that had just begun to fall.

Tommy woke up during the night holding his mother�s hand. It was the heat from her hand that had stirred him; she was even hotter now then before. He tried to sponge her head and keep her cool all through the night, but he realized that his mother wasn�t getting any better and he was afraid she was going to die. Tommy knelt on his knees, like he had seen his mother and father do so often. While he wrapped his two hands around her hand, and he began to pray. �Jesus, I�m scared, I�m not very good at praying. I hope you will still listen to me. Jesus, my momma said that You are real and right now I need to believe that. I know I haven�t always been a good boy and I�m real sorry for all of things I�ve done wrong. Will You please forgive me Jesus, please? Momma said that it says in the bible, that If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Jesus, that�s what I�m doing right now. Jesus, momma also said that �if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved (Romans 10:9). Jesus, I do believe that you are God�s son, that you died on the cross for my sins, and that you came to life again from the dead. I think that means that I�m a Christian now, doesn�t it? I hope so. Jesus, I�m scared for my momma, I�m afraid she is going to die. I know she will be with you if she does, but Dad and I still need her. Could you please heal her and give her back to us? Oh please Jesus.� With that Tommy fell asleep.

The next morning Tommy woke up to hear the joyful singing of �Joy to the World�. He thought he was dreaming until he looked up and saw; his mother. He couldn�t believe his eyes! She was standing in front of the stove cooking breakfast, and singing. She stopped singing when she heard Tommy say, �Mom, is that you?� Tommy�s mother ran to him, where he had fallen asleep, on his knees, near her bed. �Am I dreaming?� Tommy said. Tommy�s mother sat down next to him and said softly, �Son last night I heard you gave your life to Jesus.� Tommy said �How did you know that, you were sleeping?� She said: �As I was dreaming, I felt myself slipping away into death. But then I heard your voice pierce into the darkness of my dream. I heard you speaking to Jesus, and I also heard Jesus reply back to you. He said: �Tommy I forgive you. I have been waiting for you to trust me for so long. I love you very much Tommy, and I want you to know me more.� Then I heard the same voice say to me: �My Dear women, I also love you and it is not your time to come to me. You must return and teach Tommy more about me. You must awake now and celebrate this day, for this is the day of my birth; and Tommy�s.� The next thing I knew I was sitting up in bed and I felt wonderful. I saw you sleeping and didn�t want to wake you. At that, she stood up and said: �Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday! Today we have three birthdays to celebrate.� Tommy looked puzzled in her saying that and said �What do you mean mom?� She said, �We have Jesus� birthday, your birthday, and your birthday in Christ to celebrate today.� �What is a birthday in Christ mom?� that is the day you receive Christ as your savior. You become a new person, just like you were just born again. Tommy got up full of excitement and finished singing and dancing around the kitchen. Just then the door flew open, to reveal Tommy�s dad, who was standing in the doorway with the doctor. Their faces were as white as the snow on their backs and their mouths seemed as open as wide as the door behind them. After the shock of what they saw before them, they came in. Tommy explained everything that had happened to his dad and the doctor. No longer did he finish telling the story, there was knock on the door. Tommy opened the door to reveal Jake, who was standing with a big smile on his face. Jake said: �You�re not going to believe this Tommy, but I found this in the snow this morning. I think Jesus meant for you to have this. Tommy looked puzzled at this because he didn�t pray for a sled. He turned and looked at his mom with a surprised look. Then Tommy�s mom said, well you may have not been praying for a sled, but I did. With that everyone said: �Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Tommy!�

The End

By: Jeff Haseltine