These weekly articles I bring to you try to highlight many important areas of agriculture and how they affect our daily lives. Today, I would like to share a true story that happened to me many years ago. I trust this story, which I bring each year at this time, will add a special meaning to your Christmas celebration.
It was Christmas Eve 1972. Four good friends and I were on a mission. Astronomers had reported the Star of David, the very star that shone over the small town of Bethlehem thousands of years ago, was orbiting close to Earth. We had decided that after our Christmas Eve service at Victoria Avenue United Church, we would go in search of this star.
We left Chatham to head out into the stillness and darkness of that Christmas Eve. The silhouette of our car flashed across the roads and ditches of the countryside as the hours passed. We travelled many miles that night, just as the wise men did following this same star. Our eyes scanned the cloudy skies, hoping for a westerly wind to move the cloud cover. The hours flashed by and with them, our hope to see the star.
With our hearts heavy on this seemingly lost mission, we reluctantly decided to head back home. Five hours of driving, searching, and seeking – but no star. What a waste of a night! On that last stretch of road leading from Erieau to Chatham, we happened to take one last look out into the southern sky. There it was – the Star of David! The same star that shone over Bethlehem to announce the birth of Jesus the Messiah.
We stopped the car and the five of us scrambled out to look at this incredible sight. It was the largest star we had ever seen and seemed to fill the entire sky with its brightness. The same star we had read about since we were young children had become a shining reality.
We stood there, motionless, speechless, and in awe, staring up into the stillness and silence of that night. I imagined what it would have been like to be a witness to this amazing sight 2,000 years ago.
Never before had I experienced such an awareness of God’s peace and presence. The same light which ushered in the earthly presence of Jesus so many years ago was again shining to declare the glory and majesty of God.
On behalf of my family, including my wife Jill, our two daughters Andrea and her husband Dan Stronks and their children Elliott and Audrey, Lindsay and her husband Graham Kivell and their children Callahan and Lyla, and our two sons Darren and his wife Rachel and their children Judah and Camille, and Tim and his wife Heidi, we pray you and your loved ones will experience this Christmas season with thankfulness and a renewed sense of hope and joy.
May you find the true meaning of Christmas not in the gifts this world has to offer, but in the amazing gift from God, who gave us an everlasting love gift – Jesus Christ.
Just some real food for thought.
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Remember that here in Chatham-Kent ‘We Grow for the World’. Check out our community’s agricultural website: www.wegrowfortheworld.com
Kim Cooper has been involved in the agribusiness sector for over 40 years. He can be reached at: kim.e.cooper@gmail.com
You can also follow him on Twitter at ‘theAGguy’
