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| THE REASON FOR THE SEASON |
“You are two months pregnant!” Such was the pronouncement from the Indonesian doctor that examined me.
Don and I were thrilled. We had been married three years. I was already a few years past my 30th birthday and had fears that we might not have natural children. We had talked about adoption.
The news about the coming baby got quickly bruited about among the Reyes and Major families. Letters flew across the ocean rejoicing at this coming event. There was a bit of concern, though, we were thousands of miles away in Indonesia, a foreign country. How do we do this?
We had to find a doctor and a hospital that we could trust. Having a first baby at my age was a definite concern. We’ve heard of Mongoloid and Down Syndrome babies born to older mothers. Most of our missionary friends would go to the American Baptist Hospital in Kediri for their health issues. This was about a day’s bus travel from Surakarta where we lived. We decided to check it out.
The Baptist Hospital in Kediri
Dr. Kathleen C. Jones, Director of the hospital, was a kind, American missionary who had spent most of her working life in Indonesia. While waiting for her, we took in the physical condition of the facility. It was very well-kept, clean, with well-trimmed bushes and seemed like freshly painted buildings. The staff moved about with much efficiency and politeness.
As she took her seat across from me, Dr. Jones took my hand and said, “Let’s pray,” and she prayed for this coming baby. Wow, what an assurance of protection and care.
She told us things we were to expect, examined me and said the baby showed all signs of A-1 health. However, she made a very strong suggestion that we have a Plan B. Babies are known to defy their birth schedule and because we were so far away from the hospital, we should check out local hospitals just in case we had a schedule-defiant baby. I was alarmed. Don and I wanted to have this baby in an American hospital where we were sure we were going to be taken care of well.
We went home and despite our strong intention to have Kristy in the Baptist hospital in Kediri, we felt it would be wise to take the counsel of the good doctor, after all she knew babies better than we did.
Off to Brayat Minulya (In an Indonesian pedicab)
On a Sunday night, my waterbag broke. Were we thankful we took Dr. Jones’ advice! Off we went in a pedicab to Brayat Minulya Hospital in our city (This was an Indonesian hospital run by Dutch sisters. When Kristy was growing up and would be confused as to which was her right and left hands, we would attribute it to the confusion surrounding her birth – born of Filipino mother and American father and in a Dutch-run hospital in Indonesia!) On a beautiful Tuesday sunrise, our 8 lbs. 12 oz Kristy was born – beautiful and healthy. Mother and baby, waited on and pampered by a staff of Dutch sisters and Indonesian midwives, stayed 8 days in the hospital. And to think of all our concern about how we would give birth to this baby in a foreign country!
Two thousand years ago, An Angel's Announcement
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” (Luke 1:29-33 NIV)
Off to Bethlehem (on a donkey)
A few months later, a teenaged unmarried mother-to-be riding on a donkey led by her fiancé, traveled miles to comply with a government requirement of a population census. This was also going to be her first baby, but it was going to be a very special one. She knew from the start that this was no ordinary child. I can’t even imagine what thoughts she had as her life circumstances seemed to have gone out of her hand completely. She was pregnant though she had never known a man. Nine months along and here she was traveling to Bethlehem. (Present day airlines will not have allowed her on their plane!) Did she think of what lay ahead like most would-be mothers do? What kind of a baby is this? Then, they couldn’t find an inn where they could lodge. (I would have had an intense discussion with Don. “What do you mean ‘I can’t make any motel reservation’?” and “did you check out the hospitals on the route to Bethlehem, just in case. . .?”) And as baby Jesus was born in a manger, I wonder, how Mary must have felt. This baby is the Son of God, could God have not found better accommodations for His Son?
Only God could put together a scenario such as this. And for what reason? I don’t know. I have my opinion, but it really doesn’t matter.
In a nutshell, the life of this One, born in a manger, is told by Dr. James Allan Francis in the following poem written during the early 1900’s.
One Solitary Life
He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. Until He was thirty, He worked in a carpenter shop and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He wrote no books. He held no office. He never owned a home. He was never in a big city.
He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did any of the things that usually accompany greatness. The authorities condemned His teachings. His friends deserted Him. One betrayed Him to His enemies for a paltry sum. One denied Him. He went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed on a cross between two thieves. While He was dying, His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He owned on earth: His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and placed in a borrowed grave.
Nineteen centuries have come and gone, yet today He is the crowning glory of the human race, the adored leader of hundreds of millions of the earth's inhabitants.
All the armies that ever marched and all the navies that were ever assembled and all the parliaments that ever sat and all the rulers that ever reigned – combined - have not affected the life of man upon this earth so profoundly as that One Solitary Life. [1]
Years ago, I chose to follow this Son of God, who has made a world of difference in my life. Have you ever thought of what you would do with Jesus? You see, He is either the Son of God as He claims or the biggest liar or raving lunatic. Ever thought of that? A penny for your thought this Christmas day.
[1] Accessed on the Internet at www.konig.org on December 24, 2013
