Little Drumming Josephs

Merry After Christmas Everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that your New Year's is just as good :)

This season I've been thinking a lot about Joseph, Jesus's earthly father, and the Little Drummer Boy. I know, I know, not the usual combination. However, for me, these two go hand in hand.

Let's begin with Joseph.

¹⁸ Now the birth of Jesus Christ^[a] took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed^[b] to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. ²⁰ But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:

²³ “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”

(which means, God with us). ²⁴ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, ²⁵ but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

The story of the virgin birth is too wonderful to believe, but Joseph believed. What a testimony to us. Not only did Joseph believe this miracle, but he was a Real Man. He waited to marry and to be intimate with Mary until after Jesus was born, so that there was not confusion that This was the Son of God. Only a Real Man could do something like that. We need more men like Joseph (and Captain America) in this world. We will return to Mary's man in a sec.

The Little Drummer Boy song makes me cry. Every time. This is the best version.

Come, they told me
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
Our newborn King to see
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum

Our finest gifts we bring
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
To lay before the King
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
Rum, pa, pum, pum, rum, pa, pum, pum

So to honor Him
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
When we come

Little Baby
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
I am a poor boy too
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum

I have no gift to bring
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
That's fit to give a King
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
Rum, pa, pum, pum, rum, pa, pum, pum

Shall I play for You
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
On my drum, on my drum

Mary nodded
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
The ox and lamb kept time
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum

I played my drum for Him
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
I played my best for Him
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
Rum, pa, pum, pum, rum, pa, pum, pum

Then He smiled at me
Pa, rum, pa, pum, pum
Me and my drum

When we come
Me and my drum

I feel like this song is the soundtrack to my life. Yes, I know, strange statement to make. Let me explain. I feel very inadequate a lot of the time when it comes to my faith. I don't feel like a big christian or "spiritual" or on some "God-high". It's taken a long time for me to realize that that is ok. This song is Such a great example of that. My favorite part (the part that makes me cry the most) is this:: I have no gift to bring/ That's fit to give a King/Shall I play for You/On my drum, on my drum/ Mary nodded/ The ox and lamb kept time/I played my drum for Him/ I played my best for Him/Then He smiled at me/Me and my drum

I guess it's the fact that I can be me, little and insignificant. But when I'm my best, He's smiling at me. I don't have to have some grand, spiritual greatness in order to come before the King. I just have to come and that's enough.

It blows my mind. (and makes me cry).

That's brings us back to Joseph.

Joseph didn't doubt. He didn't doubt the angel. He didn't doubt God. He had faith. The opposite of faith is not doubt, but unbelief. I think that this is a common misconception. We should not use our doubt as an excuse to walk away from the faith. Our doubt should bring us closer to God.

C.S. Lewis says "If ours is an examined faith, we should be unafraid to doubt. If doubt is eventually justified, we were believing what clearly was not worth believing. But if doubt is answered, our faith has grown stronger. It knows God more certainly and it can enjoy God more deeply."

(Even for the disciples, seeing was not believing. They walked by faith not by sight, because God told them who Jesus was).

In conclusion, I think all of this comes down to John 3:16 {for God so loved the world that he sent his only son, that who so ever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting lift}. We may not know all the whys of the world or of our heartaches but we Do know why the Son of God has come: To Save Us From Our Sin. We have been saved for a life of something bigger than ourselves.

Thus we need to remember the combination of Joseph and the Little Drummer Boy. We need to believe the virgin birth that is too wonderful to believe (like the disciples and Jesus' father) and we need to play our best for Him.

My challenge to you (and to myself) is that we become Little Drumming Josephs.

MERRY CHRISTMAS.