We are enjoying our Christmas season with little ones in our home this year. Josh surprised us with a tree and a strand of colored lights that we hung in the window. Isaac likes to play with the stockings each night and guess what might be in his on Christmas morning.
Our favorite thing this season has been spending each night doing a Jesse Tree devotional with Isaac. We’re reading Bible stories and learning about the family tree of Jesus. Each night, Isaac has an ornament to hang on our Christmas tree that corresponds with the story we read. Isaiah 11:1 and 10 says, “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot – a new branch bearing fruit from the old root…in that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.”
We want to remind ourselves, and help Isaac understand, that Christmas doesn’t begin in the manger. We want him to know the whole story of God’s redemption plan. So far, we have studied Creation, Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Rahab. Eventually we will make our way through the Old Testament stories and spend a few days before Christmas talking about how Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises and prophecies from the Old Testament. He is the ONE we are waiting for this season! We are excited about this new family Christmas tradition. It is something we can take with us anywhere in the world, even in a place like Chad where Christmas is not celebrated – where we won’t have trees and pretty lights. We pray this tradition is an eternal blessing to our children in the years to come.
Speaking of Bible stories…in French class each Friday, we are beginning to learn Biblical vocabulary. We started with pronunciation of the books of the Bible, but quickly dove in to learning how to communicate stories from Scripture in French. We are trying to write up a small summary of the stories in French to have our teacher correct each week. By the end of the year, our goal is to have a completed Creation to Christ set in French to use in Africa. Many people in Chad are illiterate, so one important way we hope to be able to communicate the gospel to our Chadian friends is to share stories, similar to a Jesse Tree style, showing through Scripture that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the fulfillment of all prophecies, and the Sent One to take away their sin and shame.
Isn’t it encouraging to think that stories simple enough to share with a 2 year old are the same stories that encourage our faith and can be used to bring others to salvation? Thank you, God, for the blessing of having access to your life-changing Word!