5 Minutes with Jesus is a daily devotional series for people in the midst of real life, whether facing anxiety, grief, questions of purpose, or simply needing encouragement and connection. Hosted by Sheila Walsh, each five-minute episode offers Biblical truth, honest reflections on faith and emotions, and closes with a moment of prayer.
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| Sheila Walsh: O Come All Ye Faithful | 5 Minutes with Jesus | December 12, 2025
- Jesus came in human form
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- To rescue us and to show us what god is like.
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- The story of christmas is that help has come.
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- God so has broken and lost.
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- And that's why jesus came.
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- My flight was delayed again,
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- And as i've been sitting for over three hours,
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- I decided to stretch my legs
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- And walk the length of the airport concourse.
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- I saw a woman sitting by herself at an empty gate,
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- And i could tell that she was crying.
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- She'd pulled her head scarf
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- Down over her face, but her shoulders were shaking.
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- I just looked like she'd kind of caved in on herself.
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- I wasn't sure what to do.
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- Perhaps she wanted to be alone, but i couldn't just walk away.
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- So i sat down beside her and i waited.
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- After a few moments, she lifted her head and looked at me.
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- Can i help? i asked.
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- She shook her head
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- And said something, but it was in a language
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- I didn't recognize or understand.
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- And she was clutching a piece of paper
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- In her right hand, and i touched it as if to say,
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- Could i see it?
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- Well, reluctantly
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- She passed it to me, and it was a phone number.
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- So i decided to call the number, hoping
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- Whoever was on the other end could help.
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- When a man answered, i tried to explain what was going on.
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- Describing the woman as best i could,
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- But he told me that was his mother.
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- So i passed the phone to her and her face lit up.
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- I sat for a few moments and then watched as joy,
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- Peace and relief washed over her in waves.
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- When she gave the phone back to me, her son explained
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- That she was waiting at the wrong gate.
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- An airline employee was supposed to meet her, but
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- Somehow that fallen through the cracks.
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- I assured him that i would get her to the right gate,
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- And as she boarded a flight, she hugged me tightly,
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- This time with tears of joy running down her face.
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- Her story has stayed with me.
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- It must be terrifying to be in a place
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- Where you don't understand what someone is saying.
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- It reminded me of one of my favorite christmas stories.
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- The original author is unknown.
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- Paul harvey
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- Used to share it on his radio program each christmas.
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- I hope you love it as much as i do.
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- So this is what he would say.
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- The man i'm about to tell you about was not a scrooge.
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- He was a kind, decent, mostly good man,
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- But he just didn't believe in all of that incarnation stuff
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- That the churches proclaim at christmas time.
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- It just didn't make sense.
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- And he was too honest to pretend otherwise.
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- He told his wife, i'm truly sorry to distress you,
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- But i'm not going with you to church this christmas eve.
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- He said he would feel like a hypocrite
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- And that he'd much rather just stay at home,
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- But he would wait up for them.
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- So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.
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- Shortly after the family drove away in the car,
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- Snow began to fall.
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- He went to the window to watch the flurries
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- Getting heavier and heavier, and then he went back to his far
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- Side chair and began to read his newspapers.
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- Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound.
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- Then another. and another.
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- At first he thought, someone must be throwing
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- Snowballs against the living room window,
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- But when he went to the front door to investigate,
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- He found a flock of birds
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- Huddled outside, miserably in the snow.
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- They had been caught in the storm,
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- And in a desperate search for shelter,
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- They tried to fly through his large landscape window.
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- That is what the sound had been.
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- But he put on a coat and galoshes,
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- And he trampled through the deepening snow to the barn.
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- He opened the door wide, and turned out a light,
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- So that the birds would know the way in.
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- But the birds didn't come in,
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- So he figured that food would entice them.
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- He hurried back to the house and fetch some bread crumbs,
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- And he sprinkled them on the snow,
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- Making a trail of bread crumbs to the doorway of the stable.
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- But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs.
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- It continued to flap around helplessly in the snow,
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- And that's when he realized they were afraid of him.
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- To them, he reasoned, i'm a strange and terrifying creature.
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- Only i could think of some way to let them know
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- That they can trust me, that i'm not trying to hurt them,
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- But to help them. how?
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- He thought to himself, if only i could be a bird
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- And mingle with them and speak the language,
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- Then i could tell them not to be afraid.
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- Then i could show them the way to the safe, warm barn.
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- But i'd have to be one of them
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- So they could see and hear and understand.
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- And at
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- That moment, church bells began to ring.
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- Sound reached his ears above the sounds of the winds.
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- He stood there listening to the bells
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- Play out a de fidelis.
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- Oh, come all ye faithful.
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- Listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of christmas.
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- He sank to his knees in the store in the snow.
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- It's a beautiful story, but it's actually a profound truth.
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- Jesus came in human form to rescue us
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- And to show us what god is like.
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- The story of christmas is that help has come.
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- God said i was broken and lost,
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- And that's why jesus came.
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- It's great.
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- Thank you, father god, that you saw how lost we were
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- That we would never find our way home by ourselves.
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- And so that's why jesus came.
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- Thank you that you were willing to leave the glory of heaven
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- And become a fragile baby,
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- So that we would know what god is like.
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- Thank you for the greatest gift that has ever been given
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- In jesus name.
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- Amen.
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