“The Fix-It Man is Coming” - Advent Season Devotional
He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’ -Mark 1:7-8
“The Fix-It Man is Coming” - Advent Season Devotional
Every year, as the Advent season begins, onto the stage steps John the Baptist. Every year I find myself amazed all over again at what he was able to accomplish in terms of preparing a way for the Lord to come and do His saving work.
What John did was to awaken people to hope. He helped them see that God was involved with them in their life and times. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth God was coming, and therefore every challenge, every problem could be faced and overcome. There was nothing too big for God’s kind of love and God’s kind of mercy. John helped Israel to see their problems and their struggles in this wonderful new light of hope.
My father was born on a farm in Perry County, Pennsylvania in the year 1904. At that time there were no automobiles in the whole county and getting from place to place took a lot of effort. So, when things broke down on the farm they couldn’t take it somewhere else to be fixed. They had to do it themselves. My dad told me that his dad, and all the farmers, were experts at keeping almost everything on the farm in good working order. Every once in a while though, there was something that they could not fix themselves. When that happened, they would just put it aside and wait, because two or three times a year someone called the “fix-it man” would come. He was a man who went from farm to farm throughout the region. He would come in a horse drawn wagon that contained every conceivable nut, bolt, hinge or part…and he would be able to fix what no one else could. And my dad said that everyone would get very excited when word would begin to spread that this man was near. Things were going to be all right again, because the “fix-it man” was coming.
John the Baptist does the same thing for us this Advent season. He points us to the horizon, and he says there is One coming who can fix things that are broken and who can bathe every problem that we have in a solution of hope.
That is the message that God sends us through John. So, my friends, keep your eyes open this Advent season. Keep your hearts open. Why? Because the “Fix-it Man” is coming.
