The pastor of a large neighborhood church had some free time the afternoon of Christmas Day. He decided to drop by the church office for a few minutes to check his email. While he was there he started thinking about the nativity display on the church lawn and remembered seeing reports about Jesus being stolen from church displays in several larger cities.

Before leaving the church grounds he thought maybe he would take one last look around and check on the display to make sure everything was OK. When he did, he was shocked to discover that Baby Jesus was missing. The pastor couldn’t believe that someone in the neighborhood would have stolen the baby from the manger. The ceramic baby had been presented to the church by a local artist who had indicated it was worth about $1500.

As he was heading back into the church to call police, the pastor saw a youngster pulling a brand new Radio Flyer wagon down the sidewalk toward the church. The pastor decided to ask the boy if he’d seen anything or ssen anyone suspicious hanging around the church.

When the pastor approached the boy he noticed that the Baby Jesus from the church display was neatly tucked into his swaddling clothes lying on some straw in the back of the boy’s new wagon. The preacher asked the 6-year old why Jesus was in his wagon.

The happy youngster replied, “Before Christmas I prayed and asked Jesus for a new wagon for Christmas. When I opened it this morning I was thinking that I should thank him for it in some way. I decided that the best way to do that was to come down here to the church and take him for a ride in my shiny new wagon.”

The pastor smiled he helped the thankful boy place the Baby Jesus back in the manger in the nativity display before they both headed home.

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As told by Ohio River Baptist Association Director of Missions Rodney Cude.