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FindingChristmas
Stories of Startling Joyand Perfect Peace
James Calvin Schaap
O
James Calvin Schaap,
Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace,
Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2009. Used by permission.
© 2005 by James Calvin SchaapPublished by Revella division of Baker Publishing GroupP.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287www.revellbooks.comPreviously published under the title
Startling Joy
Printed in the United States of America
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by anymeans—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the
prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is briefquotations in printed reviews.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSchaap, James C., 1948-Finding Christmas : stories of startling joy and perfect peace/ James Calvin Schaap.p. cm.Originally published: Startling joy. c2005.ISBN 0-8007-1939-5 (cloth)1. Christmas stories, American. I. Title.PS3569.C33S73 2009813
p
.54—dc22 2009016180
James Calvin Schaap,
Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace,
Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2009. Used by permission.
5
You’ve Been Searchingfor Joy . . .
Who hasn’t?
It’s Christmas. So where’s the goodwill? Where’s
the love? Would you recognize them if you saw them? Maybeyou ought to
Prepare for the Unexpected
(page 7). Or unravelChristmas joy as in
The Mystery
(page 11). Someone says you
can get a glimpse in the face of
The Baby
(page 19) at the
local nativity. But you’re not sure you’ll make it. There’s
The
Party
(page 31). And there are presents to buy. Finding just
the right ones takes time, sometimes a lifetime, says that momwho knows all about
The Gifts
(page 57). Maybe if you lookat
The Church
(page 85). Surely there’s joy there. Rememberthat time you saw it in the faces of the children at
The Pageant
(page 99). How wonderful that is, like
The Afterglow
(page
113) when all those you love and enjoy most have been round
you. What if you could find that joy all over again? What if
joy like that would descend, covering you and everyone youknow like
The Snowfall
(page 141)—what then? What then?
Wouldn’t it change everything?
James Calvin Schaap,
Finding Christmas: Stories of Startling Joy and Perfect Peace,
Revell Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, © 2009. Used by permission.
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