One Solitary Life...

There once was a baby who was born to a poor family.  His father was a carpenter and never made a lot of money.  His mother stayed at home and raised her children.

Just before His birth, His parents had to move to a new town and start all over again.  They knew no one there and didn't even have a place to stay.  He was born in a stable because his parents had no where else they could go.

 

Before He was two years old, his family had to flee the country because the government believed that He was a threat to national security.

After the old regime fell, His family was finally able to return to their home.  Their home was a small, out of the way, obscure village.  He lived there for about 25 years.  In all His life, he never wrote a book, held a public office, or attended a college.  He only helped his father in his work as a carpenter.

 

At the age of thirty, He decided it was time to begin His own work and He became an itinerant preacher.  He traveled around the countryside on foot.  He never traveled more than 200 miles from the place of His home.  He preached and performed many miracles and had many, many followers.

His teachings had a lot of emphasis on love and forgiveness.  He loved people for whom they were, not for what they could do for Him, or how well they treated Him, or how wealthy they were, or how much they tried to find favor with Him.  He knew and understood all the motivations of their hearts, and He still loved them and always told them the total truth about everything.

 

After three years as a preacher, public opinion turned against Him.  His close friends deserted Him, leaving Him to suffer the mockery of a trial at the hands of His enemies.  He was sentenced to death and was nailed to a cross between two thieves.  As He was suffering and dying, His executioners gambled for His robe ... the only possession He had on earth.

 

Twenty centuries have passed since His death, and today He is still the central figure of the human race and the leader of the column of progress.  Time is measured from His birth.  All the armies that have ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, all the kings that have ever reigned and all of governments that have ever ruled, have not influenced the life of one man upon this earth nearly as much as that One Solitary Life.