It was December, that month when all heck breaks loose, when the calendar fills to overflowing and the expenses pile one on top of the other like leaves covering the lawn in the fall. What is it with December, that month when Christians turn their attention to a quiet stable and a silent night, when peace is tossed around like sugar cookies?
Eric BlackHis car broke down on his way to work. As he stood on the shoulder of the road, a cold rain falling on his shoulders, he dutifully called his boss to let him know he would be late. Two hours later, he walked into the office and received a pink slip, the same pink slip 150 other people received from the plant supervisor.
He walked back out the way he came in, stopping to look up into the still-falling rain. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to call his wife, to give her the news about the car and about the layoffs.
She was on her way to get the kids. School let out early that last week before Christmas. She said she loved him before they ended the call. The kids jumped in the car, and she smiled for them, asking them about their day.
When they got home, the kids found ways to entertain themselves. She went to the bedroom and sat on the bed. That strange pain in her side wasn’t getting better. A few minutes later her phone buzzed, the nurse calling to make an appointment with her doctor.
As the family cleaned up after dinner, a rare evening when they could all eat together, the TV news showed reports about ISIS that slid into updates on Ebola that slid into breaking news about Boko Haram kidnappings that slid into news of another mass shooting, this one in a small town up north.
Weary of the news, they switched to the Christmas music channel to hear songs about peace on earth and goodwill to men.
They put the kids to bed and got ready for bed themselves. They talked about the day, their shoulders and minds as heavy as the things they talked about. When they couldn’t turn the problems in any new directions, he reached for the Advent book full of stories and Bible readings about hope, love, joy, and peace. She settled into the pillow behind her back.
He read:
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
“See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and take delight in my people;
the sound of weeping and of crying
will be heard in it no more.
Never again will there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days,
or an old man who does not live out his years;
the one who dies at a hundred
will be thought a mere child;
the one who fails to reach a hundred
will be considered accursed.
They will build houses and dwell in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
No longer will they build houses and others live in them,
or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,
so will be the days of my people;
my chosen ones will long enjoy
the work of their hands.
They will not labor in vain,
nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune;
for they will be a people blessed by the Lord,
they and their descendants with them.
Before they call I will answer;
while they are still speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
(Isaiah 65:17-25)
When he finished, there was a long silence as they stared straight ahead. Without looking at each other, they reached across the bed for each other’s hand, and finding the fingertips, their hands slid together and held tight, the silence broken by the exhalation of each.
She was about to speak when he laughed. “What,” she asked with a smile.
“Of all the things to read today: ‘New heaven and a new earth.’ ‘They will not labor in vain.’ ‘The wolf and the lamb will feed together.’ And to read this today, when the car broke down, I got laid off, the report from the doctor. … And that’s just our bad news. What else could go wrong?”
He could feel her looking at him as if to will his question back into his mouth. Before she could speak, he said, “I know, I know. Plenty. Things are just crazy right now.”
They held hands through another long pause.
She broke the silence this time. “Do you remember when we moved here?”
“Yeah.”
Even though it felt like our guts were being ripped out, that complete peace got us through.
“It seemed crazy. We had good friends and a nice house. We loved what we were doing, but God wanted us to do something different. We couldn’t explain it to anyone. It sounded crazy when we heard ourselves talk about it. It sounded crazy to me.”
He chuckled, remembering.
“As much as we didn’t want to move, we knew it was what we needed to do. We had prayed so much about it, and when everything fell into place and we made our decision, we had such a peace about it. We never second-guessed it. Even though we had to sell our house, even though we had to leave everything we loved, even though it felt like our guts were being ripped out, that complete peace got us through.”
Like an out-of-body experience, he sat with his eyes fixed on the middle of nowhere. For a moment, he couldn’t feel her hand in his. His lungs filled with air more freely than they had all day as he heard God’s voice again. It wasn’t like hearing his wife or hearing his own voice in his ears when he spoke. It was deeper, more solid than that.
He heard it again, God telling them to go, to trust. And he wasn’t afraid again. And she knew he heard it. She knew it in his hand as it relaxed in hers.
He squeezed her hand and looked over at her. When their eyes met, they smiled at each other.
“It’s true,” he said. “All those things we read, one day that’s how it will be. And somehow knowing that makes everything all right now.”
They fell asleep and slept soundly, as soundly as their house built on piers reaching down to the bedrock, as soundly as Jesus sleeping in the front of a boat tossed about on a stormy sea.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)
Eric Black is pastor of First Baptist Church in Covington, Texas.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.