Source: Knitographical

The Shepherds

Please feel free to read or share this story with your family, friends, co-workers, church group, or others.* ~Love, Mitch

Dan and Trish Shepherd herded their flock, two teens and three little ones, “the meemies,” into Whoopee’s Diner, and the meemies immediately began running amuck.

“Hey!” Mom shouted.

“Yo!” Dad intervened. “No grass until the sheep get in their pen!”

The meemies dove into their chairs, giggling and ‘bah-bah’-ing.

“OK, now, who wants a hamburger?”

“Me! Me! Me! Me!” the meemies screamed.

Painfully insecure middle-schooler Nikki asked how long before they’d fiiiiiinally get to Grandma and Grandpa’s house.

Trish sighed. “Don’t whine, honey.”

“I’m not whining,” Nikki whined, “and I refuse to sit with the meemies; they’re all sticky and gross!”

Big brother Colin mumbled, “Come on, Picky Nikki, you can sit with me.”

“I hate it when you call me that!” Nikki moaned as she tragically dragged herself over to his table.

“Honey, tell the meemies a story,” Trish implored, “pleeeeaaaase.”

“’Kay, bae,” Dan replied with a weary pat to her arm. “So, who wants a Christmas story?”

“Me! Me! Me! Me!”

“’Awright, so there was this kid who really wanted an air rifle for Christmas…”

A woman in a Whoopees apron suddenly appeared. “Cute, but you can do better than that, Dan. I’m Miss Angell, the Night Manager.”

“Here at Whoopees?” Dan asked.

“Think bigger, Dan. Lots bigger. So, who’s up for a miracle?”

“Oooo! Me! Me! Me! Me!” the meemies squealed.

“I don’t see that on the menu,” Dan noted. “Is it a special?”

“About as special as it gets.” The woman jumped up onto a chair. “It was nighttime, and the Shepherds were keeping watch over their flock…”

The meemies dropped to the floor and began loudly “grazing.”

“Quietly,” Angell added, and the meemies turned instantly silent.

Trish’s mouth fell open. “I’ll give you a million dollars if you tell me how you did that!”

“Then an angel appeared.” Angell jumped down and touched the game box Colin was absorbed in. Several hundred hearts appear on his screen.

“Whoa!” Colin’s eyes grew anime-large. “‘Eternal life points?’ Where did those come from?”

“I know the Designer personally,” Angell said, touching his chest. The boy jerked back, as if awakened from a dream, put his game box away, and said, “Dad? I don’t know what I want to be, and it’s freaking me out. Can we talk about it soon?”

Dan gasped, then puts his arm around his son and replied, “Of course, buddy.”

Angell shut Nikki’s gaping mouth. “And no more fear for you, sweetie. You’re not alone. God loves you so much!” She touched Nikki’s heart. “He’s going to live right here from now on.”

A smile spread like daybreak over Nikki’s face. She put her head on her mom’s shoulder. Trish stifled a sob.

Angell beamed and widened her arms. “This is the day the Savior is born in your hearts, Shepherds, and you’ll never be the same again. You know that miracle that happened 2,000 years ago? Well, it’s still happening. When you look for Jesus, you’ll find him, right here.” She touched Dan’s chest.

“Holy—” Dan shouted.

“Dan!” Trish reacted.

“No, I mean that literally!” he said. “God is with us. Right now!”

Angell explained, “Right now your faith is a baby, just like Jesus was. But if you love him and live your life for him, that faith will grow, and you’ll soon realize everything that really matters is about him.”

The Shepherds clustered excitedly around her.

“Now, go and tell everyone!” she said. “Oh, and avoid the Whoopees’ Combo.” And then in an instant she was gone.

Too excited to eat, the Shepherds hurried off…

To tell the world what they’d seen.

∴

* You can also download a performable script version of “The Shepherds,” as well as three other Modern Day Christmas stories, here.