Christmas Vacation: Lesson From The First Christmas Road Trip


"Over the river, and through the woods,
To grandmother's house we go."

Loading up the car with luggage and gifts and hitting the road was always as much a part of Christmas as trees, cantatas, and carols for our family. I grew up in VA, and we would always load the boys up for the long road trip to see my parents and grandparents.

My wife grew up in Puerto Rico, and English is her second language. She learned English in New York. If you've ever learned a second language you know you initially learn it with a particular accent, and other accents can be difficult (if not impossible) to understand. Visits to my grandparents would get comical in the early days. My grandmother couldn't understand my wife, and my wife couldn't understand my grandmother. This put me in the role of "translator" in a room where everyone was speaking English. Sarai would speak, and I would tell my grandmother what she said. My grandmother would respond, and I would "translate" for Sarai. 

Sometimes accents can get a little tricky.

Ever wonder if Jesus knew what that was like? He took it a step farther. Look at where Jesus' early days were lived.

“When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”” Matthew 2:13-15 NIV

We all know Jesus was born in Bethlehem, and lived in Galilee. But his early days were in Egypt. He knows what it's like not just to live on earth, but the God who intercepted time and space also crossed cultures. Jesus became a man...a person. He knows what life on earth is like. The babe that Mary placed in a manger was God become flesh. He's a God we can relate to. A God who knows our hurts and fears. He's not some cosmic force out in the universe. He became flesh. He walked among us. 

And he's with us always.

Following the Son,

James A Williams

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