Baby in the manger is stronger than dinosaurs

A preacher’s family had started putting up a nativity scene in their front yard. All of them were carrying out the little statues to put in the nativity scene. Finally everything was in place – Mary & Joseph & the manger & the baby, & angels & shepherds & all the barnyard animals. Then little Scott came out carrying one of his favorite toys, the figure of the fierce Tyrannosaurus Rex, king of the dinosaurs. It was one of those plastic figures that you inflate, & in comparison to the other figures it was an enormous thing, towering over them all, & certainly not something to have in a nativity scene.

The Dad said, “I tried to tell him, ‘Scott, you have to take that back because it doesn’t belong there. Dinosaurs existed thousands of years before the baby Jesus, & it just doesn’t belong in a nativity scene.’” But little Scott insisted, so they finally put it there behind all the other figures – a fierce dinosaur hovering over the manger & everything else.

Then he said, “As we stood back & looked at it, we realized that maybe that dinosaur says more than we realized. For over each of us there is this menacing character that threatens to rob us of all our joy & peace & cheer.” “But Christmas reminds us that the baby in the manger is stronger than all the dinosaurs in your life or mine. And God has given us the victory through the gift of His Son.”