AND TIME STOOD STILL

"Come on, Mary. We have no place to go except the stable. Daniel showed it to me, and it is very clean. Delores will stay with you until I can find a midwife." Joseph felt panic when Mary had her latest contraction.

The four of them walked back to the stable. Daniel and Joseph put hay and blankets on the floor for Mary and helped her down to the makeshift bed.

"I feel as clumsy as that ox over there," Mary said as she glanced at the cow in the corner.

"I understand how you feel," Delores said, "but it won't be very long now, and you will have that little one in your arms to hold and cuddle." Delores patted Mary as she helped her down on the stable floor.

"Oh, Joseph! Please find someone as quickly as possible. I am afraid," Mary said, her voice trembling.

"I'll hurry. Oh, Delores! Stay with her and help keep her calm! I am so very thankful your stable is available and so clean!" Joseph exclaimed.

"Get going Joseph! Oh! Oh! The woman who is coming to town is named Lydia. She is coming with her husband, Samuel, her friend, Salome, and Salome's husband, Aaron. They have several animals with them. Lydia is easily recognized because her hair is a striking red. She has beautiful green eyes and is the kindest person. You can just feel her kindness!" Delores described this in detail to Joseph.

With a quick kiss to Mary, Joseph turned and ran out of the stable. "How will I know where to find this woman called Lydia?" he thought. Mary was in good hands with Daniel and Delores. Could he find Lydia in time? Joseph, who was usually very calm and controlled, felt total fear. He had been entrusted to care for Mary, and he was certain God's angel, Gabriel, had given him that responsibility. What would happen if--oh, he just could not let something happen.

"Do you know a woman named Lydia whose husband is Samuel?" he asked he first people he saw coming down the road that he and Mary had traveled. They answered negatively.

Joseph ran so hard that his heart began to hurt. There were many people on the road. He had never seen the roads and streets this crowded. There were so many people! "It has to be this registration causing all of this congestion," he thought. Bethlehem was not a large town.

"Do you know Lydia, the midwife?" he asked the next group of people he saw.

"I do," a young woman answered from the crowd. "She delivered my son two years ago."

"Have you seen her?" Joseph asked.

"She was behind us by half a day yesterday," the woman said. "She's probably still behind a little, but not as much by now. We stopped early for the baby to rest, and me too!" she laughed.

"Thanks!" Joseph said as he started running.

"Lydia! Lydia! Does anyone know Lydia, Samuel's wife that is the midwife?" he kept yelling as he ran.

Joseph felt fatigue. He was thirty years of age and not used to so much physical exercise. He finally sat down beside the road. "Oh, God! Help me! Mary cannot have that baby without help! What if she did, and something happened to your Son? Oh, God! Please help me!" Joseph put his head in his hands and began to weep.

At that time he heard a voice tell him to keep going. "Keep going. Keep going. Everything will be all right." He did not know if he could keep going, but he knew he had to.

As he arose, he felt a calmness and a newness of spirit. He knew he had heard the voice of God, and he also knew that somehow everything would be taken care of properly.

Joseph looked around him, and everything was quiet. In the air a bird stopped, but did not fall. The animals stopped, also. He saw a man with a bite of meat in his mouth, but his mouth did not chew. Joseph wanted to stop and wonder at this marvel, but he knew he did not have time.

The sun did not move. Joseph's feet went faster and faster. He was sure that the earth wasn't moving, either. He was the only thing moving in the universe! If he could see the stars in the daytime he would have known that they stood still, also.

Oh, glory of glories! He wondered if anyone would believe him if he ever told of this wondrous happening. He decided that he would keep this to himself so nobody would laugh at him.

Who would ever believe him if he told them that time stood still?

In a sudden moment he saw the woman with red hair and green eyes. He rushed toward her and as he came very near, the birds began to fly and chirp again, the man put the food in his mouth and began to chew, and the earth began to move, causing it to feel as though the sun were moving.

Lydia and her husband were coming into Bethlehem, moving swiftly this morning. They were tired and would be glad to rest.

"Lydia!" called Joseph. "My wife and I need you!" His voice was full of desperation.

"You are Lydia, aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, I am," she answered. "Why are you looking for me?" Lydia was tired of the journey and wanted to rest. Salome, Samuel and Aaron stopped while she talked with this man whom she had never before seen.


"My name is Joseph. My wife and I have been traveling, and she is expecting a baby. We really did not expect the baby to arrive until we returned home, but he is ready to be born now. Bethlehem is full of people, and we could not find a room. My cousin let us use his stable. That baby is coming and Mary, my wife, needs help. Please, will you come?" The pleading tone in Joseph's voice made Lydia realize that she absolutely could not tell him no.

"Lydia, you have to go," Salome urged. "You and this man, Joseph, go on ahead and we will catch up with you. Where do we come, Joseph?"

Joseph told her how to get to Daniel's stable, then he and Lydia mounted one of Samuel's horses at Samuel's insistence and raced toward Bethlehem.