This here story happened a while back. I wasn’t there, so I can’t claim to have any real firsthand information on exactly how it all went down. But the facts of this story have been around so long that hardly anyone with half a brain questions it. Besides, there was a whole host of witnesses the day it went down.

It all started a little after midnight. My mama always said that nothing good ever happens after midnight, but in this particular case, she was wrong. Please don’t tell her I said so.

Anyway, up in heaven it was just after midnight. Doug was asleep with the covers pulled up tight under his chin. There was a loud bang on his door. Loud enough to make him jump and sit right up. His brother came barreling through the door.

“Come on doofuss. Get up. Gabe is calling everyone to the main auditorium.”

Now, Gabe is the head honcho when it comes to special events. He’s been around forever, and there’s not much he hasn’t seen. When the Boss wants something done and done right, He gets Gabe to handle it.

So, when Gabe calls a meeting, even after midnight, you go.

Doug was having a hard time getting too excited. I mean, there was probably going to be some big announcement, some huge event, some something of world changing historical significance. Gabe was going to pump the crowd and then fly off to do his thing. No one ever asked Doug to do anything.

He stepped through the doors and took a seat next to his brother. Fingertips rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Elbow propped on the arm of the chair. Chin in hand.

“What’s this about?” he asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

The room was filled with the sound of a hushed roar. Doug closed his eyes and imagined for a moment he was listening to the ocean waves roll up on a deserted beach. He was just about asleep again when someone tapped the mic.

“Thud, thud, thud. Is this thing on.”

Gabe had a voice like a lion. You know. Some people are just always loud. They get animated about everything. The Braves win. They get loud. The mailman comes. They get loud. They always seem to run like they’re on a caffeine overdose. That’s Gabe.

“Let me have your attention. Quiet, please.”

Doug sat up straight. So did everyone in the room. When Gabe spoke, you paid attention.

“Most of you are aware that we’ve been working on a special plan for about 9 months now.”

Gabe paused, lowered his chin, and acted like he was trying to hide that big smile of his. He cleared his throat.

“Well, truth is, we’ve been working on this for a lot longer than 9 months, haven’t we?”

That one got a chuckle from the auditorium. Gabe was usually all business. No fooling around. He took his job seriously.

But today was different. You could tell he was about to bust wide open. Like a kid with a secret.

“Today,” and Gabe really had to gather himself. “Today is the day the Boss’s son shows up.”

Holy Cow! Ghee Whillakers! Great Hopping Jehoshaphat! The cheers almost blew the roof off the room. By the time Gabe got everybody quieted down, Doug was hoarse, and he had to pee.

I won’t cover the entire speech, but the basics were pretty simple. Besides, you already know the important parts of the story. It’s the little details you might not know that I want to tell you about.

Doug leaned over to his brother. “Why Bethlehem? The Boss’s son ought’a be up front and center stage someplace. Rome maybe. Alexandria. At least Jerusalem.”

“That’s not how it works. You know that.”

He did know it. He didn’t always understand it, but the Boss always takes something simple and makes something great out of it. He takes average and makes it exceptional. He hides in plain sight in humble surroundings. He chooses to use the unexpected to shake up the status quo.

Doug was so preoccupied with his questions that he didn’t notice that Gabe had gotten off the platform, walked down the aisle, and was standing right next to him. He did, however, notice the surprised look on his brother’s face.

“What?”

His brother just pointed over Doug’s shoulder like he’d seen a ghost. When Doug turned around and saw Gabe standing there, that “urge” he had pushed down and forgotten; it returned.

“The Boss wants to see you.”

“Me?”

“I ain’t talking to myself.”

What happened next was almost too much for Doug to believe it was all real. He had never been anything but an apprentice. Small jobs. Always supervised closely. Never any real responsibilities.

But just like that, Doug’s life changed. I’m told that the Boss had taken notice of Doug. He notices everything. Nothing and no one is hidden from His eyes. He needed a courier to take a message down to Bethlehem, and He chose Doug to deliver it.

“You’re gonna have the whole crowd with you,” the Boss said. “I’m not sending you alone,” He said. “I’ve got a big choir number planned. Hallelujah, Glory, and all that. I’ll need every voice I can get. Thousands even. But I want you to do the talking.”

Doug felt his knees go weak. He was a nobody. The Boss should be sending Gabe to do this.

But, again, that’s not the way it works. I mean, look at Moses. He was just a goat herder. He smelled like camel sweat. He stuttered most of the time. He hated talking in front of people. His goats had more personality.

Doug had never been more nervous in his entire life. He finally got a break so he could “go” take care of a pressing need. He kept running over his lines so he wouldn’t blow it.

By now, everyone had reported to the flight deck. Gabe was shouting out orders left and right. Each squadron lined up behind Doug.

Down below, the hills outside the tiny village of Bethlehem were all quiet. Just east of town, a small group of shepherds were sitting around the campfire when a stranger walked up. For a moment, he just stood there.

The shepherds never saw him coming, so it startled them. They didn’t know whether to fight or run.

“Don’t be afraid,” Doug said. “I’ve got some pretty good news for you.”

Shucks. You know the rest of the story. I don’t have to tell you that some mighty incredible things began that night in Bethlehem.

It was a nowhere kind of place. A nobody group of men on a hillside. And what might have seemed like a no-big-deal announcement.

A child is born.

But that’s the way it works. When you least expect it, the best things ever come around. In the middle of hopelessness, hope comes. From the most mundane comes the magnificent. One minute you’re just sitting around a campfire. The next minute, boom!

Christmas is like that. Out of nothing and from nowhere, He just shows up.

Don’t believe me?

Just ask Doug.