Adventures of a King

From Pancake Flats, in the Heart of America, My First Wife and I wish you a Merry Christmas Season. (We will be traveling/busy the next ten days. Not blogging.)

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Adventures of a King

by Paul Nichols

Once upon a time in a Land Far Away, the King rode through his kingdom. His royal coach, encrusted with the most beautiful and brilliant jewels, drawn by the most magnificent stallions and escorted by a hundred elite guardsmen passed through all the villages. In the bright sunlight, the coach was dazzling and all who saw it fell in awe of this majestic parade.

In each village, the people stood along the street, hushed by this display of Royalty. They bowed low and backed away at the honor of his presence.

And then one day, in a poor distant village, he spied her. That lovely girl with beautiful eyes and a humble smile. He saw her. He commanded his driver to stop the coach, but only briefly, and he fell in love at first sight. And without another thought he chose her for his queen. He chose that beautiful girl to be his companion and friend forever. He directed his coachmen to return to his castle immediately, for at last he found the girl he wanted to marry. With the greatest love and attention he prepared a special place in his castle for her.

“Someday soon I will send for her,” he told himself. “But,” he wondered, “how do I know if she will love me?”

“I can command her to marry me, and she will—but only because I am her King. Will she love me? I can provide for her every need; small or great, but will she love me? I can fulfill her every dream, but will she love those things or will she love only  me?"

“And if I send my guardsmen to bring her to me; will she come freely; freely because she loves me?”

The King asked himself many questions; over and over, night after night. Then he realized that for the beautiful girl to love him, she must discover him herself. She must respond to his proposal—with her own love. She must respond to him as if he were a man like those in her own village. She must want to give him her love.

Therefore, he concluded, he must abandon his royal city and his royal throne for a while and become like one of the poor villagers where she lived.

And so the King put on threadbare clothes. He wore a tattered cloak and he laced up old, worn boots. With love as his guide, he walked alone to the last village in his realm. After many days he arrived with only a few crumbs of bread. Tired and dirty, he sat down in the village plaza to wait for that beautiful girl to pass.

Late in the day, he saw her and his heart called out to her. She saw him sitting there; a man she had never noticed before. But he had eyes that were honest; eyes that seemed to call to her.

When she neared, the King rose from his bench and tipped his dirty hat. “Good evening,” he said. The girl paused.

“I came here because I’d like to visit with you very soon,” the man in tattered clothing said. “Perhaps you will let me get to know you…”

“This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."—Luke 2:12