Page 41 - Dash to Heaven DRAFT

The “Jesus People”
As I’ve mentioned, my religious instruction as a child was very minimal. There was an air of spirituality in our home, but that just served to confuse me without the framework to help me understand. Every year around Christmas time, my mother would carefully place all the parts and pieces together for a nativity scene, complete with the infant Jesus in his manger, Mary, Joseph, wise men, shepherds, camels, sheep, and a hay-covered barn. For years, I would watch the pieces come out of the box to be arranged, and then be packed carefully back into the box after the holidays were over.
A family story that my mother and father would repeat often centered around me as a five-year old little girl. I had been caught “playing” with the miniature figures from the nativity scene. I had Joseph and Mary driving in the Barbie car, the wise men standing scattered around the tiled floor, and the baby Jesus asleep in his “crib” in their “house.” When my mother approached me and asked what I was doing, I responded that I was playing with “The Jesus People!”
My mother smiled acknowledging the naiveté of a young, uninformed child. My memory is unclear how or when she used the incident as an opportunity to teach me the significance of the “dolls” that I had affectionately dubbed, “The Jesus People.” The memory of that day brings a smile to my face as I recall my parents retelling the story, amused by my innocent unfamiliarity.
There are those who simply talk the talk of being a Christian, doing the minimum to maintain the title. They go to church, for appearances sake, and say a prayer
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