Lisa Barry: Hi. This is Lisa Barry, welcoming you to this Monday edition of Gateway To Joy. Right now Elisabeth Elliot is in the middle of a series of Christmas stories that she's been reading on the air. They aren't always about the Bible and they don't always have deep theological parallels.

Do you know what the purpose of this series is? To enjoy. To sit back, forget about the chaos of the commercial side of Christmas, and just let your mind envelop all the nuances of the season. How long has it been since you've listened to someone tell a story to you? Be honest, now. I'll bet you miss it, don't you? I don't think I'll ever outgrow my love for a good story. Today's tale is called KING JOHN'S CHRISTMAS. Let's get started. Here's Elisabeth.

Elisabeth Elliot: "You are loved with an everlasting love." That's what the Bible says. "And underneath are the everlasting arms." This is your friend Elisabeth Elliot, talking again today about Christmas and giving you another Christmas story.

Now I certainly hope that all of you children who are six years old or a little bit older or a little bit younger have heard of A. A. Milne. My brothers and my sister and I were raised on the books by A. A. Milne, the Christopher Robin stories. From the book called NOW WE ARE SIX, I'm going to read the introduction, which tells you why A. A. Milne wrote this little book of poems.

He says, "When you are reciting poetry, which is a thing we never do, you find sometimes, just as you are beginning, that Uncle John is telling Aunt Rose that if he can't find spectacles he won't be able to hear properly; and does she know where they are; and by the time everybody has stopped looking for them, you are at the last verse and in another minute they will be saying, 'Thank-you, thank-you,' without really knowing what it was all about.

So next time, you are more careful; and just before you begin, you say, 'Er-h'r'm!' very loudly, which means, 'Now then, here we are;' and everybody stops talking and looks at you, which is what you want. So then you get in the way of saying it whenever you are asked to recite . . ., and sometimes it just as well, and sometimes it isn't . . . and by and by, you find yourself saying it without thinking.

Well, this bit which I am writing now, called Introduction, is really the 'er-h'r'm' of this book. I have put it in, partly so as not to take you by surprise, and partly because I can't do without it now. There are some very clever writers who say that it is quite easy not to have an 'er-h'r'm,' but I don't agree with them. I think it's much easier not to have all the rest of the book.

What I want to explain in the Introduction is this. We have been nearly three years writing this book. We began it when we were very young . . . and now we are six. So of course, bits of it seem rather babyish to us, almost as if they had slipped out of some other book by mistake. On page whatever-it-is, there is a thing which is simply three-ish. When we read it to ourselves just now, we said, 'Well, well, well,' and turned over rather quickly.

So we want you to know that the name of the book doesn't mean that this is us being six all the time, but that it is about as far as we've got at present, and we half think of stopping there."

The author signs his initials, "A. A. M." Then he puts a P.S.: "Pooh"-and I hope you know that Pooh is a stuffed bear-"Pooh wants us to say that he thought it was a different book; and he hopes you won't mind, but he walked through it one day, looking for his friend Piglet and sat down on some of the pages by mistake."

Well, here's one of the poems in this book entitled NOW WE ARE SIX. It's called "King John's Christmas."

"King John was not a good man--he had his little ways. Sometimes no one spoke to him for days and days and days. Men who came across him when walking in the town, gave him a supercilious stare, or passed with noses in the air. Bad King John stood dumbly there, blushing beneath his crown.

King John was not a good man, and no good friends had he. He stayed in every afternoon, but no one came to tea. And round about December, the cards upon his shelf, which wished him lots of Christmas cheer and fortune in the coming year, were never from his near and dear, but only from himself.

King John was not a good man, yet had his hopes and fears. They had given him no present now for years and years and years. But every year at Christmas, while minstrels stood about, collecting tribute from the young for all the songs they might have sung, he stole away upstairs and hung a hopeful stocking out.

King John was not a good man. He lived his life aloof. Alone, he thought a message out while climbing up the roof. He wrote it down and propped it against the chimney stack: 'To all and sundry, near and far, F. Christmas in particular,' and signed it not 'Johannes R.,' but very humbly, 'Jack.'

'I want some crackers and I want some candy. I think a box of chocolates would come in handy. I don't mind oranges. I do like nuts. And I should like a pocketknife that really cuts. And oh, Father Christmas, if you love me at all, please bring me a big, red india-rubber ball.'

King John was not a good man. He wrote his message out and got him to his room again, descending by the spout. And all that night he lay there, a prey to hopes and fears. 'I think that's him a-coming now,' anxiety bedewed his brow. 'He'll bring one present, anyhow; the first I've had for years. Forget about the crackers and forget about the candy. I'm sure a box of chocolates would never come in handy. I don't like oranges. I don't want nuts. And I have got a pocketknife that almost cuts. But oh, Father Christmas, if you love me at all, bring me a big, red india-rubber ball.'

King John was not a good man. Next morning, when the sun rose up to tell a waiting world that Christmas had begun and people seized their stockings and opened them with glee, and crackers, toys and games appeared, and lips with sticky sweets were smeared, King John said grimly, 'As I feared, nothing again for me. I did want crackers and I did want candy. I know a box of chocolates would come in handy. I do love oranges. I did want nuts. I haven't got a pocketknife, not one that cuts. And oh, if Father Christmas had loved me at all, he would have brought a big, red india-rubber ball.'" That's right. You remembered that, didn't you?

"King John stood by the window and frowned to see below the happy bands of boys and girls all playing in the snow. A while he stood there watching and envying them all . . . when through the window, big and red, there hurtled by his royal head and bounced and fell upon the bed"-guess what? "An india-rubber ball. And oh, Father Christmas, my blessings on you fall for bringing him a big, red india-rubber ball."

So the king got his india-rubber ball, didn't he? He didn't get it from Santa Claus. He didn't get it because somebody loved him. He got it by mistake, didn't he? The children were playing ball, and by mistake, the ball went through the window. But poor King John, who was not a good man, he got his india-rubber ball and so he was happy.

Now of course, this little poem doesn't say anything about God, does it? It doesn't say anything about Christmas and Jesus in the way that we think about it. But there's something there for us all to learn, isn't there? If we are not nice people, which means unselfish people, people who are interested in making other people happy rather than completely absorbed in making ourselves happy, then we are not a good man or a good woman or a good boy or a good girl. It shouldn't be too surprising if nobody wants to give us Christmas presents or Christmas cards.

Poor King John had to write his own Christmas cards to himself. What a selfish man. But he learned a lesson. He is not going to get the presents from Father Christmas. It might just be the mercy of God that he receives a gift that nobody really intended to give him. But I hope that King John had some second thoughts and sat down with that india-rubber ball and wondered and pondered, "How did it get there? Did God send it to him?"

Jesus Christ came into this world because He loved us and He wanted to teach us what love is. It says in 1 John 3:16, "This is how we know what love is: that Christ laid down His life for us, and we in our turn are to lay down our lives for each other."

Lisa Barry: I hope you enjoyed today's story. I too have A. A. Milne books of my own, and they are a treasure. In fact, I still have my original Winnie-the-Pooh, whose face is all smushed to one side due to regular and enthusiastic hugs. Isn't it great to have memories like that?

Do you ever wonder what part about the here and now will become a great memory in the future? I do. It just might be that if you give a gift of spiritual significance this year that your gift might be the great memory. That's why we've put together a number of gift packets that have been specifically chosen-one for men, one for women, and another for young adults. I don't have time to tell you what's in each one, but we have operators standing by during regular business hours who can help you. You can even order after hours with a credit card.

To find out more, get in touch with us here. Our number is 1-800-759-4JOY. That's 1-800-759-4569. Or you can write to us at Gateway To Joy, Box 82500, Lincoln, Nebraska, 68501. Our Internet ministry address is gatewaytojoy.org. Gateway To Joy has been a production of Back to the Bible.

Tomorrow Elisabeth reads another holiday tale entitled AN OLD LADY'S CHRISTMAS, so be sure and join us then for the next Gateway To Joy.