God, Christmas Eve and the Geese

[This is an excellent analogy. You may have read this one before; however, this is worth reading once again. This is a great word picture, and the first time I read it, I had goose-bumps all over my body, no pun intended. Enjoy!]

There was once a man who didn't believe in God, and he didn't hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays.

His wife, however, did believe and she raised their children to have faith in God and the Lord Jesus Christ despite his disparaging comments. On one snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their 2 children to a special Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. They were to talk about the birth of Jesus that night. She asked him to come along just like she had done so many times before, but he refused her once again...

"That story is nonsense!" he barked. "Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That's ridiculous!"

So she and the children left, and he stayed home.

A while later, the winds grew stronger and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he saw was a blinding snowstorm. He then sat down to relax before the fire for the evening when he heard a very loud thump... Something had hit the window...so He looked out but couldn't see more than a few feet. When the snow let up a little, he ventured outside to see what could have been beating on his window.

In the field near his house he saw a flock of wild geese. Apparently they had been flying south for the winter when they got caught in the snowstorm and couldn't go on. They were lost and stranded on his farm, with no food or shelter. They just flapped their wings and flew around the field in low circles, blindly and aimlessly. And a couple of them had flown into his window, it seemed.

The man felt sorry for the geese and wanted to help them. The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It's warm and safe; surely they could spend the night and wait out the storm. So he walked over to the barn and opened the doors wide, then watched and waited hoping they would notice the open barn and go inside. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn't seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them. The man tried to get their attention by waving a lantern, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He went into the house and came with some bread, broke it up, and made a bread crumb trail leading to the barn, but they still didn't catch on.

Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only got more scared and scattered in every direction except toward the the opened barn doors. Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be warm and safe.

"Why don't they follow me?!" he exclaimed. "Can't they see this is the only place where they can survive the storm?"

He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn't follow a human. "If only I were a goose, then I could save them," he said out loud. Then he had an idea! He went into barn, got one of his own geese and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. He then released it.

His goose flew through the flock and straight into the barn -- and one-by-one, the other geese followed it to safety. He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed loudly in his mind: "If only I were a goose, then I could save them!" Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier that evening. "Why would God want to be like us? That's ridiculous!"

Suddenly it all made perfect sense to him. That is what God had done! We were like the geese--blind, lost, and perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way, and save us!

As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet and pondered this wonderful thought. Suddenly he understood why Jesus Christ had come. Years of doubt and disbelief vanished with the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first prayer:

"Thank You, God, for coming in human form to get me out of the storm!"

Author ~ Unknown

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Did you know God gave Geese Common Sense?

When you see geese flying in a that famous "V" formation you might consider what science has discovered as to why they fly the way that do...

FACT 1: As each goose flaps its wings it creates an uplift for the bird that follow by flying in a "V" formation the whole flock adds 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew on its own.

LESSON: People who share a common direction and sense of community can get where they are going more quickly and easily because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

FACT 2: When a goose falls out of formation it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of trying to go it alone it quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

LESSON: If we have as much sense as a goose We will stay in formation with those people who are headed the same way we are we are willing to accept their help and give our help to others.

FACT 3: When the lead goose gets tired it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

LESSON: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership as with geese people are interdependent on each other's skills,capabilities and unique arrangements of gifts, talents or resources.
FACT 4: The geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

LESSON: We need to make sure our honking is encouraging in groups where there is encouragement the production is much greater the power of encouragement to stand by one's heart or core values and encourage the heart and core of other is the quality of honking we seek.

FACT 5 ~ and this one is very important: When a goose gets sick, wounded or shot down two other geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with the fallen goose until it is able to fly again or until it dies, and only then do they launch out on their own with another formation or catch up with their flock.

LESSON: If we have as much sense as geese we will stand by each other in difficult times, as well as when we are strong ands flying high. The faithfulness of the geese show us how we should be dealing with those in the body (church) who have fallen short of the mark... Geese Sense, is God's Common Sense I think we should try it!

Author ~ Unknown

Watch a Power Point of this...
A Lesson From The Geese

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From the book: ON FOREIGN SOIL
True Stories of a Wandering Jew

This book starts in English and turns to Yiddish. Falk Zolf’s memoir of life in Tsarist Russia, as translated by Martin Green. This excerpt comes from chapter three and I'm placing it here to show you God always shows His people the way home!

[It happened one winter night. A child had suddenly fallen ill. My father was away in town for a farmer’s market. Outside, there was a frightenning blizzard which was tearing shingles from roofs, and pulling the shutters from off the windows. The child was seized with a burning fever, and cried out with a pitiful voice. Mother wrapped herself in a warm sheepskin, took for herself stick in hand, and set out from her "estate" on her way on the way to her mother in the town, which was a few kilometers away, to get a remedy for her sick child.

Outside it was pitch dark, so that you couldn’t see the road at all. The wind moaned like a wounded animal. She walked and walked surrounded by darkness and blowing snow. After awhile she realized that she had wandered off the road and couldn’t find her way back, not forwards and not backwards. And then she felt her strength slipping away. She broke out in a cold sweat. She was terrified that if she fell down, the snow would cover her and she would never get up...no one would even know where her bones had ended up! She prayed silently in her heart to God, he should have pity on a young mother of "litte chicks", that they shouldn’t God forbid be left as orphans to be raised by a wicked step-mother...

And as soon as she finished this prayer, she suddenly felt that someone was guiding her...with such a gentle hand, that a sweet warmth flowed through her whole body. The hand led her over the high mountains of snow, so easily and so quickly that she felt she was being wafted through the air. Finally "the hand" brought her right back to her house...she rushed inside to the sick child, and saw that he lay in bed, smiling with cheerful eyes and playing with his fingers...]

My question to you my friend is this: "Who's hand do you think led her home?"

Write me if you'd like to know the answer: barbara@mayimhayim.org

To read the whole book: "ON FOREIGN SOIL - True Stories of a Wandering Jew"
on-line go to: Martin Green

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Merry Christmas

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Happy Hanukkah

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