The Living Nativity

The town of Searcy is ready for Christmas! Last Friday night, Mom, Patty, Tekia, Jared, Shelby, Hunter, and Avery all came to see Searcy all lit up...and to see our amazing nativity, of course! Jared & Co. just drove up for the night, but Mom, Patty, and Kia spent the night with Rachel and me. We had fun.

I have to dedicate an entire post to the living nativity. I'm a little obsessed with this event. The First Assembly of God in Searcy did this for the first time last year. It's basically a drive-thru nativity, and it's the neatest thing! When you drive up, they first give you some hot chocolate and a CD to play while you drive through. The CD tells the story of Jesus' birth. You enter through the gates of Bethlehem, guarded by Roman soldiers, of course. As you slowly drive through, you see people going on about their business on a normal day in Bethlehem, which of course is what it must've been like on the day Christ was born, as the people in town had no idea what a big day it was! There are facades of two-story buildings on either side of you. You see men, women, and children walking around (right in front of your car - with animals, too...Mom and I were afraid this huge camel was going to walk right into us!). You see a woman selling beaded jewelry, a woman baking bread, people registering for the census, people tending to their animals, and parents taking care of their children. You pass by the inn, where you see the innkeeper telling Joseph and a very pregnant Mary that there is no room for them (you're hearing this part of the story on your CD as you drive by). As you round the corner, you pass by the temple and a well in the center of town. You see shepherds tending to their sheep, and you see an angel in the sky above them, telling them of Jesus' arrival. You see the three wise men in the distance, on their way to see Jesus. And finally you come to the stable, where you see Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus, along with several animals. And throughout this whole experience, which lasts about 10 minutes, there are people all over the place, doing the normal Bethlehem things that they must've been doing on the day Jesus was born. It's pretty incredible.

Mom and I had Hunter and Tekia in the car with us. We couldn't hear most of our CD because of all the talking they were doing in the backseat! They loved seeing all the animals, of course, and they liked watching the kids running around the "streets of Bethlehem". When we finally came to the stable (where "Mary" is holding a doll wrapped in a blanket, but all you could see was a blanket), Hunter got so excited and said, "Look! I see baby Jesus! Aww, he's so CUTE!"

Go to www.livenativity.net to read more about the nativity and to see some pictures from last year!

Last year, in this town of around 20,000, over 10,000 people visited this nativity. We Christians have a pretty awesome outreach opportunity at Christmas time. I know Jesus was not born on December 25th, but it's at this time of year that people who never think about Jesus might have a conversation about him over dinner. It's at this time that kids who've never heard a Bible story will become enchanted by the story of a tiny baby being born in a barn full of animals. It's at this time that secular radio stations will play songs about the day our Savior came into the world. It's at this time that a movie about the miracle of Christ's birth can play and be accepted in our movie theaters. What a wonderful time this is. I hope we will all take advantage of this opportunity the way this little church in Searcy has.