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Written by cycleguy on December 15th, 2015

You may have heard or read this before but I think it is worth sharing again:

In 1809, the evening news would have concentrated on Austria…not Britain or America. A little man was sweeping across Europe and wiping out little hamlets. From Trafalgar to Waterloo this diminutive dictator was showing his superiority.

But to focus on Napoleon would have meant missing some pretty significant births:

  • William Gladstone was born in Liverpool.
  • Alfred Tennyson began his life in Lincolnshire.
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes cried out in Cambridge, Mass.
  • Edgar Alan Poe, a few miles away in Boston, started his brief and tragic life.
  • A physician named Darwin and his wife called their infant son Charles Robert.
  • A rugged log cabin in Hardin County, KY, owned by an illiterate wandering laborer was filled with the infant screams of a newborn baby named Abraham Lincoln.
  • Felix Mendelsshon was born in Hamburg, Germany.

All those (significant) births would have been missed because of a focus on something else.  The news would have seen the destiny of the world being shaped on the battlefields in Austria. But the news would have been wrong! (Not that it ever is…choke choke)

Over 2000 years ago a birth happened which changed the world…in more ways than one. It also went without a lot of fanfare.  While all eyes were on Augustus, the cynical Caesar who demanded a census for tax purposes, a tiny baby was being born in a manger. Who cared then?

Maybe even more probing: who cares today?

The above story was edited from Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life by Chuck Swindoll (p.34-35)

 

17 Comments so far ↓

  1. Jeff says:

    Not me

  2. I appreciate reminders like these. You get such one-sided coverage and people begin to decry the end of the world; but there is always hope if you look for it. I avoid a lot of news coverage because of this. Good stuff! Thanks Bill–merry Christmas.

  3. ike says:

    The Son of God becoming human is something I believe..but just can’t grasp it all.

  4. Betty Draper says:

    It certainly is too easy to focus on the world events every day instead of the eternal issues. I love how God used a few men tending sheep and the angels to announce the birth of His Son. He is still using a few to spread the good news and I am thankful to be one of those few. Thanks Bill for being among the few also, letting His light shine through you. Merry Christmas.

  5. Bill, Perhaps if you could revisit the first commenter a few minutes after his death…he might feel the full weight of your sorry and know what you meant. It is not “I feel sorry for you” as much as it is, “Please, accept this gift offered to you before it is too late.” Merry Christmas to you and your family.

    • Jeff says:

      The sorriness of it is the condescending attitude Christians take toward those who find their beliefs, based on ancient superstitions and unsubstantiated nonsense, to be just that ….nonsense. To suggest you know what happens 5 minutes after someone dies may be fooling yourself but it is silliness and lacking in any resemblance of Truth. I am the one that should be sorry for people that allow themselves to believe such nonsense and even worse act condescending and somewhat arrogant toward those have more sense.

      • cycleguy says:

        Merry Christmas to you also Kim.

      • cycleguy says:

        I don’t see her as acting condescending to you Jeff. She, like me, believes in what you call ancient superstitions and unsubstantiated nonsense. Because we believe in life after death, we carry a concern for people who do see it as nonsense. I figure if I’m wrong I’ve lost nothing; but if I’m right you’ve lost everything. No condescension there…just concern.

        • Jeff says:

          I guess I could take that approach but I won’t. I could say I have it all figured out and I feel sorry for anyone that doesn’t agree with me. I’m just not that arrogant.

  6. floyd says:

    Great history lesson. But it is the birth of our Savior that has turned the world upside down… and only the ones that know Him will be held firm. True love was born that glorious day…