If you don’t know already, a few years ago I wrote and recorded a Christmas record called Do You See What I See. It is one of my favorite experiences in life so far. God really opened the Christmas story to me that year. I ended up writing a song from the perspective of each person involved in the Christmas story. If you don’t have that record, it will be on sale for $5 on Amazon.com starting Christmas morning. If you do, then you are already familiar with this idea. What you don’t know is that originally there was going to be a hidden track.
I wrote another song in this circle of songs. We’ll call it “The Ballad of the Donkey”. It was just a joke, written from the perspective of the donkey who got kicked out of the stable so Jesus could be born there. He was sleeping out in the cold, wondering what was going on inside that was so important. Now, I just wrote it out of a light-hearted moment. But over time, I have begun to understand it in a little deeper way
I think every person outside of the Christian faith is kind of like that fictional donkey at Christmas. They are looking in at the spectacle, wondering what the big deal is. They are still in the middle of their lives, some of them in the darkest parts of their lives. And Christmas doesn’t look so beautiful to them
This Christmas I hope you will notice the person checking you out at Wal-mart. The guy out in the rain gathering the grocery carts. The girl that’s not happy about working the day after Christmas and so she’s rude to you. Remember that they don’t understand what’s going on. Treat them like Jesus came down from heaven to rescue them. Because He did.
Thoughts?
Todd
Sounds like a great promotional download?
The album wouldn’t be complete without it…
Blessings to you and your family Mr. Agnew.
would love to hear that song….thx for this. you hit it right on the head…
God With Us is such a powerful song. The idea that God as a baby, has come to save us is remarkable. How do you prepare to meet the Lord? The King of Israel abides with us, in this little boy, who could know we’d find, the creator born redeemer of mankind, and the hand of God is reaching out for mine. This baby child is God with us. We are truly blessed. Merry Christmas!
Ok Todd the song sounds great! We need the song please let us know when you have it recorded. I went out on Christmas day to give gifts to a few of the homeless in my area. What a blessing it was to share time with these individuals who are looking in from the outside not quite knowing how to enter in to His presents. I have been listening to “Do you see what I see” and love how the story of Christ unfolds. Thank you for all the awsome songs and music that you allow us to be apart of.
This past Christmas I wrote in my journal a response to a little boy I babysit. His family is not Christian, and he really struggled with Christmas this year. He declared sadly, “We don’t celebrate Christmas. We celebrate (and he stated the holiday his family celebrated.) He was so sad. He has been exposed to Santa and all of the Christmas gift-giving, and he is an EXCELLENT receiver of gifts! Usually any little thing you give him he is excited about and thankful for and will play with it over and over! My response in my journal was about me wanting him to show him what I saw, to tell him about what I heard, to let him know about what I know… about Christmas.
Christmas day I babysat him for a short time, and I brought a small gift. We sat down and watched a little TV while we were waiting for his siblings so we could go play. There was a cartoon about Christmas on. He said sorrowly, “Why doesn’t Santa come to OUR house?” Eventhough he was small, I told him the truth about Santa with teary eyes. I couldn’t bare thinking that he thought that he hadn’t been good enough for Santa to give him toys. I figured it was ok, since his family didn’t celebrate the holiday. He was so sad. I reminded him I brought him a gift, and he said he wanted LOTS of gifts… I think he saw on TV how children often recieve LOTS of gifts on Christmas… I tickled him to make him laugh and changed the subject.
I left reflecting on how people in the world who don’t understand the reason for Christmas probably view it. It DOES get confusing with Santa and the Elves and all of the money spent on gifts. And the children who don’t celebrate Christmas usually don’t have Santa visit them, and likely feel like they weren’t on Santa’s “good” list. They totally miss the true reason for Christmas even though so many people around them celebrate it. All I knew to do was to give the gift of prayer for the people who don’t know Christmas, and to pray that God will help me and others help people know what we know, see what we have seen, and hear what we have heard about the true meaning of Christmas… about what it meant for Jesus to be born in this world.