BY MATT JOHNSON

Imagine a dirty, dank, stinky barn full of animal manure. Now close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose.

This was the environment that the Son of glory was born into. This is the reality of the Nativity.

During Christmas, I prefer the smell of cookies baking, the fresh pine smell of a Christmas tree, and candy canes to the smell of manure any day. But if we want a true depiction of the Christmas story, we ought to consider the scandal of the coming of Jesus.

THE OPPOSITE OF ‘GOING BIG’

Hypothetically speaking, if you were the Son of God, how would you choose to enter the world? For one, I think I’d rather come down to the world a fully grown man, roll up in a gold-plated SUV, and skip the gore of an actual birth altogether.