By Bill Hogan From 1972
Weelunk Contributor
THE GOSPEL OF ST. LUKE – AS AMENDED
One day God picked up the world, held it in His palm, and studied the big mess people had made by being mean to one another.
He wanted to help, but He also wanted people to learn how to help themselves.
He loved us so much that He decided to give to the world His only Son to show us how to be happy. He knew
that people were so mixed up that His Boy would be killed. He hoped that through their sorrow they would learn
love and how get along with one another. So he took the chance and gave us the biggest Christmas of all — and, this is how it happened: The president of the richest, most powerful country in the world wanted to know how many people were in the lands, so he passed a law that everyone must go to the City-County building and register before the end of the year.
There was a young couple who lived in the country whom no one had over heard of. Joe was good with tools, did odd jobs, and worked in a gas station to support himself and his wife, Mary. God picked this couple to have His Son so no one would notice. And, Mary was about to have a baby.
Joe put Mary in the truck one evening to go downtown to register. Just outside of town the truck broke down, and Joe could not fix it. They decided to walk in, register, and get some help for the truck.
As they were walking through town, Mary grabbed Joe by the arm and told him the baby was coming. Joe tried to get a room in the motels and hotels but couldn’t because all the people were coming to town over the week end to register.
They were having dinners and parties and staying overnight, so downtown was packed. Besides, Mary was big and
fat with the baby, and her clothes didn’t fit, and Joe still wore his work clothes and old boots. Everyone was too busy and didn’t want them to spoil their parties.
Joe was really getting scared. Then he saw a fellow working late in a car wash fixing some equipment, so he asked him for help. He took them inside, opened the office, and called a doctor he knew who got his car washed there. The baby was born fine, and Joe made a real neat crib out of a basket for dirty car wash towels. They bedded Mary and the baby down with clean towels from the car wash man. They were all happy and excited. God’s Son was born, and they called him Jesus.
The car wash man stopped to get a hamburger on his way home. A bunch of young people overheard him telling about the baby born in the car wash. They decided to look for themselves, and soon the word spread all over, and the kids were roaring all around the car wash on every kind of wheels bringing french fries, shakes, and hamburgers.
These were the first Christmas presents. That evening, this little baby brought into the world the spirit of love and giving.
This Little Babe and the spirit of giving that He awakened in the young people are the promise of the future.
