Amen: A Nativity Story

Perhaps you’ve never heard the Christmas story told from the point of view of a donkey. Well, the donkey in this story is not just any donkey. This donkey has never known death. He has been living on this earth since the Garden of Eden. This same donkey talked to Balaam; later he carried the firewood for Abraham to take Isaac up the mountain; he even carried Jesus for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. But the donkey’s favorite memory was the time he carried Mary to Bethlehem. In the stable of Bethlehem, the donkey, whose name is Amen, had the unbelievably-blessed experience of watching the birth of Mary’s baby, who was God’s son. But to stretch our imaginations even more—and perhaps to humble us enough to really hear the story—we don’t hear it directly from Amen. The unlikely spokesperson who actually tells us this story is a slow-witted stable hand, in rural Kentucky, named Chirp Vanhoosen, who has been taking care of the donkey named Amen and listening to his stories. When a sad little girl named Spring-baby visits his barn, Chirp Vanhoosen cheers her by relating Amen’s account of the nativity story. This is a very short story to brighten the season. Enjoy!