Guest post by Rob Shepherd: 'Mary Christmas -- It’s Facebook!'

Today's post is a guest post by my friend Rob Shepherd. Rob writes for and runs RobShep.com, a blog that features movie reviews, "Mind Dumps" and spiritual insights that will make you say: "Hmm..." Rob is married to Monica (a fellow teacher -- God bless her!), the proud father of two twin babies and is a Laker fan! Without further ado, heeeeeere's Rob!

Mary Christmas -- It’s Facebook!

Last week, my wife showed me a video on Facebook that featured status updates from the Christmas story. Seeing that video spurred on an immediate thought:

"Why didn’t I think of that!?" 

Now, I tell you that because I’m about to throw down my own Mary and Joseph Facebook status updates and I don’t want to hear how someone else already did it. If I’ve learned anything in this life, it’s that there is always room for two. We have McDonald’s and Burger King. We have Pepsi and Coke. I have twins, Reese and Hayden. My point is that I know I ripped this idea, but I hope you will still enjoy it. 

Now, most scholars believe that Mary was a teenage girl. Take that into mind. The following is a Facebook account of the Christmas story. 

Mary: "OMG I’m preggers."

In this sense, Mary would not be using the Lord’s name in vain. 

In our day and age, announcing a pregnancy on Facebook is a HUGE deal. You tell your friends and family and then you have to announce it on Facebook. Now, Mary’s pregnancy would have been a little bit scandalous. Nowadays, when a teenage girl gets pregnant, she just goes out and gets herself a reality TV show. I like to call that show birth control, but some refer to it as "Teen Mom." In Mary’s day and age, this would have been a huge Facebook scandal. I can imagine that as soon as Mary posted this news, multiple Facebook friends would have said things like… 

Facebook Friend: "If there was a dislike button, I would have pushed it just then!"

When Joseph sees Mary’s Facebook page, he immediately changes his status to "single." Now, if you are on Facebook, then you know what a big deal that status is. The world wide web buzzes when someone changes their relationship status.

Moving on. In the middle of the night, Joseph wakes up and changes his status back to "engaged." His update might have read something like... 

Joseph: "Either last night's Taco Bell really jacked me up or I just had a dream from God. Wedding is back on!"

As the story continues, Mary and Joseph are forced to travel for three days to Bethlehem. I’m sure Mary would have started out by saying…

Mary: "ROAD TRIP!!!" 

Now, riding on a donkey can’t be fun. I’m sure Mary’s mood would have changed. I’m also sure that Joseph was probably a typical guy. The next post on Mary’s page would have said something like… 

Mary: "So annoying. It’s not my fault that I have to stop the donkey every five minutes so I can use the restroom. Joseph doesn’t know what it’s like to be pregnant. He keeps saying that we can only use the bathroom when we stop to fill up the donkey. Annoying!"

Now, can you imagine what she would have posted when they finally arrived to Bethlehem and found out there was no room for them in the inn? 

Mary: "My idiot husband forgot to make a reservation at the Holiday Inn. Luckily for us, they are checking on some other options."

A few minutes later, Mary may have changed her status one more time:

Mary: "Heck to the No! I’m not giving birth in no stinkin’ stable! Joseph better make this right!" 

The truth is that Mary and Joseph didn’t have Facebook. But even if they had, I’m not sure there statuses would have read anything like we would expect them to. After all of the events of the Christmas story, the Bible tells us how Mary actually does respond. 

The Bible says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2:19 (NIV). 

Do what? 

How come Mary didn’t complain about all of the drama that surrounded the Christmas story? Maybe it was because Mary focused on the Savior instead of focusing on her problems. 

I recently read that “Joy is not the absence of pain, but the presence of God.” I wonder if Mary was able to find Joy because she was focused on the presence of God. 

I know that we have a lot of stuff going on this Christmas. We have our own problems. We have our own drama. We have our crazy families. But what if we treasured up this day? What if we chose joy? What if we truly did focus on the presence of God? 

What are some other things Mary and Joseph might have posted on Facebook?