57 Now Elizabeth's full time came for her to be delivered, and she brought forth a son. 58 When her neighbors and relatives heard how the Lord had shown great mercy to her, they rejoiced with her.  Luke 1:57-58

There is little in this life that compares to bringing home a new baby.  I remember loading up our first child into the backseat of the car.  I was young, but it seemed amazing to me that the hospital staff would allow us to take our baby home...I was SO unqualified to be her daddy.  

Unqualified as I was, I was ecstatic to drive my daughter and my wife to our little apartment.  There were new schedules to get used to, a baby's cries to try and decipher, and diapers!  I'm still convinced that we could have come close to making a mortgage payment if we hadn't had to continually purchase diapers.

We were young, but having a baby around the home was exhausting!  I've really thought about how tiring it must have been for these two older people to bring baby John into their home...and how exciting!  This baby would be the forerunner that would bring the good news of the Messiah's arrival to a hurting world.  What an amazing opportunity, and a daunting task to raise a little boy that would become such a powerful man.

As adults, most of us have a wonderful opportunity to bring a positive influence into the life of a child.  Kids need Christ-like role-models.