'Tis the night before Christmas ever was.  An angelic messenger drops in on some shepherds pulling the night shift.  These hillside handlers stand trembling, jaws agape against the starlit canopy. Justifiably so.

This was no ordinary heads-up.  Certainly not.  The Master Designer of the universe is coming for a never-to-be-forgotten visit.

Jesus, the Christ, has come to show us what God, His Father, is like.  And to die in our place.  A cruel, wrenching death that paid a debt He did not owe so that you and I can possess a forgiveness we do not deserve.

The huddled herders are told to go find the Babe who's since grown up to be our risen and returning Savior.  Good advice.