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A Full Inn

by Jerry Ousley  
11/07/2009 / Holidays

We've done a lot of traveling in our life. All of it except one trip to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side, was done right here in the good old US of A. Early in our marriage we were a part of a gospel singing group. We had made three appointments in the state of Virginia. Two of those were close enough that we stayed with some people we knew, but the third required us to get a motel. Back then it was fairly easy to get a room for the night and we didn't think much about reservations. But this particular night it seemed that every motel in the town was filled to capacity.

We finally found one that had a room with only one bed, but they agreed to bring in a roll-a-way bed. We were relieved to get it. However, there were two men and two women in the group. Deb and I were married but the other two weren't so that meant that the ladies slept in one bed and the men in the other. There was just one problem the roll-away-bed didn't have a very good mattress on it. Being the gentlemen that we were we agreed to take the mattress off the other bed and put it on the roll-away for the ladies and they happily agreed to this arrangement.

Let me tell you, sleeping on box springs isn't all that comfortable! What a night! To tell you the truth, I'm glad this happened back when I was younger because, frankly, I don't think my back would accept an arrangement like that today. But at least we were out of the cold and didn't have to sleep in the van. From then on we always made reservations.

There's a story of a little boy who asked his father why Mary and Joseph could only find a stable in which to stay when they went to Bethlehem. The father, not being very well versed in scripture and thinking in the practicality of our modern era responded to his son that Joseph hadn't planned their trip very well.

But in reality, their trip had been planned by God Himself. In order to fulfill the one prophecy that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, God moved the entire civilized world under the rule of the Roman Empire to set this census. God put it in the mind of the great Emperor to make every one of his subjects migrate back to their city of birth. That meant that Mary and Joseph had to make the long, hard trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem. She was described as being "great with child." It was very near the time to give birth. It wasn't an easy journey but they had to make it, not only in obedience to the Roman Ruler but more importantly in obedience to God.

We've often criticized the innkeeper in the story of Christ's birth as being a mean, hard man. Why couldn't he make room for them, especially knowing Mary's condition? But I believe that he did the best he could. At least they were off the streets. God always honors effort that is the best we can do. This was all according to His plan. I believe and know that if God had wanted Jesus to be born in a nice warm, comfortable room that He would have made the way. But even this was God's plan. In fact, we could say that the innkeeper did more than most people do today at least he made room!

That's a lesson in the story of Christmas. In all the haste to get the perfect gift for those we love, in all the extra expense that we are going to incur because of it; in the middle of dinners to fix and places to go, we must ask ourselves one simple question; have we made room for the Christ Child? Have we reserved space in our hearts and in our celebration for Him?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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