Experiencing the First Christmas: Humble Estate

Have you ever heard of Thomas Obadiah Chisholm? Probably not. He was born in 1866 in a log cabin near Franklin, Kentucky and grew up on his family’s farm. At sixteen he began teaching in the one room schoolhouse. He came to faith at twenty-six and worked for a religious newspaper in Louisville, KY. At thirty-six he entered the ministry, pastoring a small church in Scottsville, KY for just a year. He resigned due to failing health, moving back to the family farm.  He spent the rest of his life as an insurance agent living in New Jersey. You might not know his story, but you know his work because he wrote Great is Thy Faithfulness.

In explaining the song, he writes, “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health. But I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God, and that He has given me many wonderful displays of his providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.”

It’s stories like Chisholm’s and our text this Sunday that demonstrate God’s delight in using humble, unknown people to do his work. Join us as we consider Joseph and Mary’s first Christmas.