An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an "extra" on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten, and the shepherds would have slept the night away.<\/p>\n\t\t
But God dances amidst the common. And that night he did a waltz.<\/p>\n\t\t
The black sky exploded with brightness. … Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherd was dead asleep, the next he was rubbing his eyes and staring into the face of an alien.<\/p>\n\t\t
The night was ordinary no more.<\/p>\n\t\t
The angel came in the night because that is when lights are best seen and that is when they are most needed. God comes into the common for the same reason.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3413,3600,4217,4218,4232,4472,4966],"tax_ctp_topics":[378],"class_list":["post-57004","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-angels","tax_ctp_tags-christmas","tax_ctp_tags-immanence-of-god","tax_ctp_tags-immanuel","tax_ctp_tags-incarnation-of-christ","tax_ctp_tags-miracles","tax_ctp_tags-shepherd"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n