There’s nothing like the smell of shavings when you walk
into a barn at a livestock show. In one breathe sweet memories sweep across
your mind like a movie on the big screen and you instantly feel at home.
I had that sensation as I walked into Freedom Hall at the
recent North American International Livestock Exposition in Louisville,
Kentucky. It was late one night and I had posted the last picture of the day’s
show, slung my camera over my shoulder and spent a little time just walking the aisles of
cattle. Several scenes played across the
screen in front of me as I strolled around clipping chutes, feed pans and straw
packs. On my left, two older men were
swapping stories of days gone by while across the aisle a young fitter covered
in cow hair and adhesive was winding up his cords and oiling his clipper
blades.
I glanced straight ahead into the milking parlor and saw a
man milking a cow and chatting with his buddy who sat on a bucket nearby. I
turned down another aisle and to my right was a dad sitting with his daughter
dressed in her pajamas, sharing some fruit snacks before she crawled into the
tent for bed and up ahead were two teenage boys staring at their phones passing
the night hours away as they watched the cows.
On a Saturday night in the center of a busy city, people
were prepping cows for the last big show of the year. They would show, a few would win, they would
celebrate and go back to the farm.
Over 2000 years ago on the outskirts of a busy city in a
smelly stable, two people were also spending the evening with cattle but this
time it was without clippers, without shavings and no blue ribbons. Instead
they were prepping to deliver a Savior. Scared, cold and questioning, they were
in for the night of their lives. A night
that would change the world. A night when the lost would soon be found, the
blind would soon see and the prisoners
would be set free.
A child was born for you and for me. Open your eyes, find
Him and be free. Merry Christmas.
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