Day 14

Camille Powell (9^th Grade)

The story of the birth of John the Baptist is a story most church-goers have heard since they were little preschoolers at Vacation Bible School and Sunday School. I, too, have heard it for a long time and have never really and truly put any deep thought into this event. In the past when I read it, I was like, “Oh, here’s this story I’ve heard several times! Let me read this so I can get to the ‘Christmas Part’. It never really meant much to me, but rereading it from a different perspective and trying to focus my thoughts, I see it’s totally beyond that. This story is one about having faith and trusting God to know what is best. Zechariah, before verses 57-66, lost his voice because he questioned the thought of being given a child through his wife, Elizabeth, at such an old age. I mean, who wouldn’t question it? But that’s where the lesson comes in: God wants us to trust Him even when the idea seems impossible because with God, the possibilities are endless! God’s powers don’t have any boundaries, so why should we try to give God a so called “limit of power” in our heads?

Okay, so here’s a random and somewhat crazy example of what I’m trying to say: free-range chickens taste WAYYY better than caged chickens because the chickens that have no boundaries are happy and are also fed healthier things which makes it taste better. This is a crazy comparison, but God is so much better when we let Him out of the boundaries we place in our heads for Him. Zechariah and Elizabeth (and us too) try to close God in, making him not “taste” as good as He would if we just let Him do His own thing. Reading Luke 1:57-66 showed me how much I try to control situations myself rather than trusting God. That definitely needs to change! So overall, don’t limit God’s amazing and wonderful powers because He is so much greater than that! We just have to give Him a chance!