be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. The scene went dark, and then the curtains went down. Couple of minutes later, the curtains went back up. The scene was of King Herod. He was sitting on the throne when he got news from one of his soldiers. It was a request from a wise man who was travelling through the area. He was asking about the soon birth of the king of Jews. King Herod lifted his face, and with a tone of anger, he sent the magi away.
He called in one of his adviser. “What is this story I am learning about the birth of the king of the Jews?” he asked. That adviser took a moment to think about his responds.
“King, there is a story that there will be born a child that will be the Son of God. He will be known as the king of the Jews,” he explained. King Herod’s face grew with angry. He had lost favor with the Lord. With a spare second, he sent soldiers out to find this child and bring him in. The scene went dark, and then a couple of seconds later, it was changed to a desert scene. It was about how the three wise men met up and talked about their shared story.
Each was visited by the angel and told to find the child. The three wise men walked and talked to those they passed by. They visited the local inn to learn it was all filled up. Before they left, the innkeeper mentioned a couple that was pregnant in the stable. The wise men asked questions about the couple. He in turn said, “I felt bad about not having a room, but I felt worse to send them off in the dark.” So he made the choice for the stable, while trying to get help for Mary. The three wise men thanked the keeper and headed for the stable. As the last one was leaving, a soldier spotted them. The soldier went to stop them; the innkeeper stepped in. He told the soldier, “These three men have traveled far, and I chose to let them stay in the stables. If you like, you can join them for the night?” The soldier responded with a no and told the innkeeper what he was looking for. The innkeeper offered to let the soldier to check out the place. He waited a minute and then decided to move along. The soldier kept is eye on the stables. As he thought about turning back, a fellow soldier ran up to him. He told him that a baby was born at a nearby town, and it was looking like the one King Herod was looking for. They rode off. The one wise man had watched what had happen and drew a sigh of relief.
The next scene was that of the three wise men around Mary and Joseph. They each offered their own gift. They also told their story, of why they came and the news of King Herod looking for them. The wise men got ready to head back on their routes. Each offered to help Mary and the baby to escape from the soldiers that will be coming. The scene ended with the trio of men helping lead Mary, Joseph, and Jesus out of the stable. Then the scene cut, and the lights went out. When the light came on, the group of actors and stagehands all were standing on the stage. Priest Carter came out and spoke, “This moment, this birth is what changed the world. This moment when baby Jesus could have been spotted, it was the power of God to protect them all. For this Christmas is the birth and birthday of the one who saved us all.”
He went on to basically do a quick service, and then it was all done. People started to make their way out of the church. I waited with Dad until the crowd became little. My eyes kept looking around, maybe a chance to see Jana again. I couldn’t shake the sight of her out of my head. I did get a visit from Eric. He made a joke about after this performance, he’s taking his act to Broadway. We joked around a bit, in a way to waste time. Then we said our good-byes. I walked to the car with Dad. We talked about church and the play. He couldn’t help smiling from me being back in the church, even for one night. I heard him, but I was not really listening to a word he said. It is funny that sometimes we do that to people. It rattled in my head later on when he was talking to Linda about it. I guess the idea of church wasn’t so bad now, but still the question is who is God and why should I care. It was something I spent the night thinking about.
When Monday hit, it was the beginning of Christmas break. I had already made plans for the free time. Some of it was going to be used for Christmas shopping and other days to be just relaxing at home. Later on that Monday, I took in a bike ride around town. I took to some trails that I knew would cut my travel time down. I got onto one trail and raced down toward a ramp. I had jumped this ramp many times over the years. This time, it was a different. I hit the ramp at full speed, only to have the wood break.
When that happened, I flipped off the bike and landed on my head. I also felt my neck take a twist that scarred me allot. I caught my breath, while feeling all the pain from my head to down my back. When I moved my arms and moved around, I at least felt that nothing broke. Being alone in the woods can be far scarier when you’re hurting. I took me time to get back up. I dusted my pants off. I then checked the bike, finding nothing wrong with it. But the flip scared me enough to walk myself home. I kind of knew I could ride the bike, but I guess the flip caught my nerves to worry about another accident. Almost home, I tried and got on my bike. I was fine riding the rest home. But I thought about the close call I just had. If I landed any way more harder or different, I might not have walked away from it.
The next day, I woke up and thanked God for being alive. I got dressed and headed out the door. The plan was to meet up with Eric for some shopping. He wanted to get something special for Tammy. They had grown quite serious as a couple. I was heading for the shops around Main Street and East Bay Avenue. Barnegat, being small, didn’t have a mall but had plenty of small shops. I always made a trip down for a the sports card shop. Jack, the owner, is a nice guy who knew a lot about sports. He was a former marine who served in WWII. He lost his right hand in combat. He told me that he saw a grenade nearby and tried to toss it from his company, but it took his hand with it. I always sounds true, and I never question his stories.
I was surprised that he knew some of the New York Yankees, like Whitey Ford, Roger Maris, and Yogie Berra. He also met some football players and one basketball player. He had several cards that were autographed for him. He never sold the Roger Maris card from 1961. Since I was meeting Eric, I looked around for him and to get my mom her gift. But I couldn’t help myself and took a detour into the Jack’s shop. I had a good collection of cards, with most of them in the recent years. I remember looking for the rookies and all-stars. There was something about looking at Jack’s cards; it was a step in history. My favorite card was a 1983 Howard Johnson rookie card. Jack had it, only one that he had too. I could get it, but it was something I hoped my future wife would get for Christmas for me, kind of a special thing that shows how much love we had. As I was staring at it, I got the tap on the shoulder. I turned around to see it was Eric. “You ready, buddy?” he asked. I nodded yes and said good-bye to Jack. Since coming from the Parkway, Jack’s was the first store. We went right into the next door over. It was a girl’s place, filled with plates, cups, and stuff for a tea party. It had jewelry from rings to necklaces and watches.
Strange as it sounds, I didn’t know the name of the place. I had to check it out and found it was interesting to be called Annie’s Tea party. I walked around, trying to think what was Eric looking for. I should have guessed it, as he was hovering over the jewelry section. Couple of moments of him looking and talking to himself, he pointed out the necklace he was staring at. The clerk pulled out a gold necklace with a heart shape design. He looked at very closely. The clerk mentioned since it was so close to Christmas, that it was on sale. Eric then asked my opinion of it. I said, “Do you love her that much?” Eric said that he knew he wanted to be with Tammy and have a future with her. I could see it in his eyes that was in love. I said to go for it. The clerk looked at Eric before getting the okay to
