Episode 23 - Tim and Darla Johnson

Hello, Oak Ridge family and friends. David here

with the Advent Your podcast today. And I have

Tim and Darla Johnson with me today. They're

going to share a couple of scriptures with us.

But before we do that, did y 'all have some elements

that point you to Christ during this season?

When I think of the Advent theme of love, it

reminds me of this one Christmas years and years

ago. We were traveling on Christmas evening.

from Lubbock to Alito, from Tim's parents to

my family's home. And Iran broke down. So here

we were with four little girls on the side of

the road outside of Snyder, pretty much in the

middle of nowhere. And I had the typical adult

feelings of irritation and, oh, great, what now?

And as I looked back and I saw my girls, they

had this like terror and fear on their face of,

what are we going to do? What are we going to

do? Who's going to help us? And a man who owned

a wrecking service in a shop there in Snyder

came across us and he offered to tow us to his

garage and work on our car on Christmas night

and then he walked me and the girls over to a

little cafe where he knew the woman who ran it

and she's like well we're closed now but you

know I have some food left over on the buffet

you and the girls you can just have it I'm not

gonna charge you you know just absolutely took

care of us and my girls were running around having

a good time and the happiness and the stuff in

their face showed love and I thought about the

passage of, you know, even the pagans love their

brothers. But here were a couple of individuals

on Christmas night who took us in, took care

of us, showed us love. And it was a real blessing.

And that weekend, we had really been messing

with our kids and aggravating them with the Oak

Ridge boys. They didn't like them much. And we

got back in the car and we pushed play on the

stereo and it was the Oak Ridge boys singing

the most inconvenient Christmas. And so we all,

of course, looked at each other with this knowing

look in our eyes. But we definitely felt love

that night. So I was trying to think of stories

and traditions and everything that went along

with that. And I couldn't help but remember growing

up around my dad's house, my mom and dad's house,

at our Christmas that we had. And one of the

traditions that I never really understood, but

we did it every year, was before we got to tear

into all the presents, everybody had to sit down.

and listen to Dad read the poem, The Night Before

Christmas. And I can remember hating that because

it took him so long to read it before we could

open our presents. And then, after a few years

of growing up, I was wondering, why did we read

that on Christmas? You know, it really doesn't

seem to point to Jesus. And, well, in our family,

we don't read that. Now, we do read out of...

out of the Christmas story, out of the Bible,

and I have the grandkids read it, which I think

is a really nice tradition. But one of the things

about the poem, "'Twas a Night Before Christmas,"

and it talks about Santa Claus and his adventures.

You get to wondering about Santa Claus, the myth,

as well as the man. He was a man, St. Nicolay

Episcopal's old mural, which is St. Nicholas

of Myra. And the interesting thing about him,

he lived around the fourth century. His native

tongue was Koine Greek, which was the same language

that most of our ancient texts from the New Testament

are written in. And one of the things about St.

Nicholas was that the story goes that there was

a man in his town that had three daughters and

he was very poor. I'm not sure if that is he

was very poor because he had three daughters

or he was very poor and had three daughters.

Nevertheless, he was very poor and he had these

three daughters. And he did not have enough money

to provide for a dowry. And at that time and

that place, If you did not have enough money

for a dowry, the only option was to sell your

daughters into slavery or into prostitution or

something like that. And so the night before

the oldest girl was to marry, Nicholas came by

and threw a bag of gold through the window to

redeem the oldest daughter. And he did that for

the second daughter and he did that for the third

daughter. And he always, he never would let anyone

know that he did that. And the legend says that

for the third daughter, The dad stayed up all

night waiting for St. Nicholas to come by, and

he caught him. And St. Nicholas told him not

to tell anyone. But, of course, the story got

out. And the three bags of gold that St. Nicholas

gave, an act of pure generosity. And, you know,

I think about the spirit of Christmas and generosity

and giving, and about how this godly man, Nicholas,

the way that Jesus lived in him and came out

was through his generosity. A lot of people did

not realize also that the story really did begin

there. It began with Nicholas' mother and father.

They were wealthy business people, and when they

passed away, they left Nicholas an inheritance.

And he chose to use that inheritance for the

glory of God, and to help people, and to be generous

towards them. And so I think, you know, I think

about this, about how that God was generous towards

us, He sent His Son, and how that Spirit... that

lives in us, wants us to be generous, to help

people, to show them the love that he has for

them, and to do good, like Darla's story about

the people that stopped and helped us. They were

the spirit of St. Nicholas, I think, as well.

I'll be reading Isaiah 33, verses 17 through

Isaiah 33:17–22

22. Your eyes will see the King and his beauty,

and view a land that stretches afar. In your

thoughts, you will ponder the former terror.

Where is that chief officer? Where is the one

who took the revenue? Where is the officer in

charge of the towers? You will see those arrogant

people no more. People whose speech is obscure,

whose language is strange and incomprehensible.

Look on Zion, the city of our festivals. Your

eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a

tent that will not be moved. Its stakes will

never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken.

There the Lord will be our mighty one. It will

be like a place of broad rivers and streams No

galley with oars will ride them. No mighty ship

will sail them for the Lord is our judge The

Lord is our lawgiver The Lord is our King It

is he who will save us And I'll be reading from

Luke 11 verses 46 through 55 and I'll be reading

from the First Nations version of the New Testament.

And it may sound a little different because it

is from various tribal traditions and it's from

Bible scholars that made the translation for

the various indigenous tribes here in the United

States. And so it will give the names of people

as well as the meanings of their names. So from

the First Nations version of the New Testament,

Luke 11, 46 through 55, the Song of Bitter Tears.

When Bitter Tears, also known as Mary, heard

this, she was filled with gladness and her words

flowed out like a song. From deep in my heart,

I danced with joy to honor the Great Spirit.

Even though I am small and weak, He noticed me.

Now I will be looked up to by all. The Mighty

One has lifted me up. His name is sacred. He

is the Great and Holy One. Her face seemed to

shine as she continued. He shows kindness and

pity to both children and elders who respect

Him. His strong arm has brought low the ones

who think they are better than others. He counts

coup with the arrogant warrior's chiefs, but

puts a headdress of honor on the ones with humble

hearts. She smiled, looked up to the sky and

shouted for joy. He prepares a great feast for

the ones who are hungry, but sends the fat ones

home with empty bellies. He has been kind to

the tribes of wrestles with creator of Israel,

who walks in his ways. for he has remembered

the ancient promises he made to our ancestors,

the father of many nations, Abraham, and his

descendants. When she finished, they both laughed

with joy, with hearts full of gladness. They

told each other their stories.