Posted by
Corthell on Tuesday, December 08, 2009 8:05:19 AM
"God, who owed us nothing, gave us everything. He gave up more than His comfort and His crown – He gave His life, and it all started right there in a simple manger in Bethlehem."
Gov. Mike Huckabee told me his current best-seller, "A Simple Christmas: Twelve Stories that Celebrate the True Holiday Spirit," is his favorite of the seven books he has authored.
"Writing the book gave me a chance to write about stories that are intensely personable but also very pleasurable as I talk about things that matter so very much, not just to me but to all of us," Huckabee said.
This year, President Obama has decided not to display the traditional Christmas crèche at the White House. After reading "A Simple Christmas," there can be no doubt that should Gov. Huckabee ever become President Huckabee, that policy would be immediately reversed.
"A Simple Christmas" takes Huckabee back through a heartfelt remembrance of Christmas past, from the days of his early childhood to his celebration of Christmas as governor of Arkansas.
While not a book of politics, "A Simple Christmas" invites the reader to see Huckabee as he saw himself growing up, told through 12 Christmas stories that span his life from childhood to early adulthood.
A story that stands out involves Huckabee at 11 years old telling his parents that if they wouldn't buy him an electric guitar for Christmas, he didn't want anything.
Of course, at that early age, Huckabee had no idea how his blue-collar family would find the extra $99 to buy his coveted guitar.
"I wanted a simple Christmas that year. I didn't ask for a lot of things – just one that meant more to me than anything else I had ever asked for," he wrote.
"But what was simple to me was anything but simple to my parents, who had to make a really major sacrifice to give it to me. The best Christmas gifts we get are the ones that represent a sacrifice on the part of the giver."
Here, Huckabee draws a lesson back to the true meaning of Christmas, underscoring, as he does throughout the book, how the true meaning of Christmas involves a deep appreciation of the birth of Christ.