Children’s Christmas programs at church are an adventure in entertainment and experimental theater. You just never know what is going to happen but you know that there is going be a major unscripted event that will be the thing that everyone remembers for years to come. In 2006 “The Big Guy” was three and he played the part of a lamb in the stable. On this night everything went well.

After the program, the proud parents pose with their fledgling thespian. This may have been his last theatrical appearance.

From what I can gather, sheep are pretty high maintenance animals. They need a good shepherd to watch over them and protect them. When danger approaches sheep are likely to be so frightened that they do not move and a predator can kill several of them in minutes. When left alone, they are likely to get disoriented and lost. The prophet Isaiah compared humanity to a flock of sheep and He said that one day a good shepherd would come but that this Savior would not have the trappings of a conqueror, but would be identified as a common man and the sheep who needed him would largely ignore his presence. Isaiah lays out the mission of the Messiah and the fact that Christ would have the sins of the world placed on His shoulders. The old prophet tells us that this shepherd became the spotless lamb and that He was bruised, afflicted, cut off from the land of the living, and put to grief, but it never says that He dies. Christ referred to believers who have passed on as asleep in the Lord because He gave us victory over death through His resurrection. You can read the prophets of the Old Testament and you can see the Messiah of the gospels. One day He is coming again. Can you hear the bells?