Have you ever wondered what became of the innkeeper in Bethlehem who let Mary and Joseph have their baby in his barn?

Did he have little children? When the soldiers came from Herod, did they hunt for the birth place of the dangerous baby and start the slaughter there? What did it cost the innkeeper to house the Messiah in his first hours?

In the poem “The Innkeeper,” I tried to imagine what might have happened when the soldiers came. And what Jesus might have said if he showed up thirty years later to talk to the innkeeper about it. It’s fiction. But its aim is truth and hope and joy.

We hope it will touch some deep place in your heart, perhaps through a wound. Maybe it will find its way into your Christmas family celebrations, or your small group, or even the gathered church.

If you’ve ever lost a child, or ever faced a tragedy, just when you thought you were doing good, we hope “The Innkeeper” will bring you comfort and strength. In my experience, poetry has a way of touching us sometimes when simple sentences don’t. In one sense, I hope you enjoy it. But there may be deeper emotions too. May the risen Lord Jesus turn this Advent into something really extraordinary this year.