Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh: A Christmas Collection
    Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh: A Christmas Collection
    Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh: A Christmas Collection
    Ebook145 pages1 hour

    Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh: A Christmas Collection

    By Dwayne Buhler

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh is a collection of ten short stories for junior readers and families that take place on Christmas Eve. Readers will travel around the world, visiting a poor family in Rio de Janeiro and witness the kidnapping of students in an international school in Laos. The stories span history, going back to a missionary family in the South Pacific in the 18th Century and to the Canadian Prairies during World War II. Readers end their journey in Bethlehem with the tale of a woodcutter and his son as they accompany the shepherds to the manger. Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh reveals the wonder of the Christmas story, seen through the eyes of people from different nations and cultures.

    I know of no better time of year to snuggle up with a great storybook than Christmas. Each tale in Gold, Common Sense, and Myrrh is worth the price of admission. Many of them will stay with me for life. I smiled, I cried, I thought. I sprained my wrist turning pages.
    – Phil Callaway, speaker and author of Laughing Matters

    These stories transport readers to another time and place, to cross-cultural experiences where they discover the true meaning of Christmas. They engage the imagination and grip the heart. Make reading this book a treasured family tradition.
    – Grace Fox, speaker, author and national co-director of
    International Messengers Canada

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDwayne Buhler
    Release dateNov 24, 2012
    ISBN9781301989089
    Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh: A Christmas Collection
    Author

    Dwayne Buhler

    Dwayne Buhler has lived in four countries - Austria, Brazil, Canada and Mexico. He is a pastor, teacher, and speaker who has a passion for teaching and working with young leaders. He and his family now live in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

    Related to Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh

    Related ebooks

    Christian Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Paddling Through History

      Jun 15, 2023

      Paddling to DeCourcy Island is at the top of my summer activities wish list. The Southern Gulf Island region is steeped in thousands of years of culture and history for the Snuneymuxw, Stz’uminus, Lyackson, Halalt, and Penelakut First Nations. DeCour

      9 min read

    • Article

      Best Of Indy

      Nov 25, 2022

      Best Of Indy
      10 min read

    • Article

      Cresting the Wave

      Oct 28, 2021

      Cresting the Wave
      12 min read

    • Article

      Finding My Funny Bone

      Jun 16, 2021

      Finding My Funny Bone
      5 min read

    • Article

      Fire Survivors Find 'A Lot Of Beauty In The World'

      Dec 19, 2017

      After the fire, they had nothing. To their surprise, they also had everything. You may recall the story of Jan LeHecka Pascoe and her husband, John, who spent six terrified hours in a neighbor's swimming pool, slipping below the surface to avoid the

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Art of Poetry No. 112

      Dec 6, 2022

      The Art of Poetry No. 112
      26 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Guide

      Jan 2, 2022

      Summer Reading Guide
      6 min read

    • Article

      Projections of Life

      Jun 1, 2023

      Projections of Life
      14 min read

    • Article

      Your LETTERS

      Nov 12, 2021

      Your LETTERS
      7 min read

    • Article

      Alone with Kindred

      Sep 1, 2023

      Alone with Kindred
      12 min read

    • Article

      Elise Juska on Finally Learning the True Story of Her Namesake

      Jun 12, 2019

      The novelist on her grandfather's very unusual relationship arrangement—a 52-year engagement—and how it led, in a roundabout way, to her own name. The post Elise Juska on Finally Learning the True Story of Her Namesake appeared first on The Millions.

      8 min read

    • Article

      Intrepid Spirit

      Dec 4, 2019

      Intrepid Spirit
      6 min read

    • Article

      One Equal Light

      Dec 1, 2021

      WHEN the invitation came, we were a little mystified. In beautiful lettering on stiff creamy card, it read: The Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Board of St Paul’s Cathedral Trust in America request the pleasure of your company for an intimate con

      3 min read

    • Article

      Haphazard By Starlight

      Dec 16, 2020

      ADVENT is a time of waiting and we have become a congregation of experts. I nominate the people of Planet Earth for the Nobel Prize for Waiting. Even in a country smaller than Montana, we have modified our motto ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ to ‘Keep Wait

      4 min read

    • Article

      Trapped In A Dream

      Jul 2, 2023

      Trapped In A Dream
      7 min read

    • Article

      Idolatry

      Sep 1, 2022

      My grandfather Dave Pinsky’s disregard for the practice of Judaism as a religion was so calm and perfect that he didn’t seem to express his feelings about piety and rabbi-craft except implicitly, by living his profane life. Without warning, Zaydee Po

      14 min read

    • Article

      MIND THE GAP A Gassy Jack Story

      Jun 4, 2021

      It’s difficult being in the middle of two things—like the proverbial rock and the hard place. My life is lived in that cleft, and I have found a way to be in this place. I’m constantly redefining what it means to live here. My family are born of tw

      6 min read

    • Article

      FROM the MAILBOX

      Jan 31, 2023

      FROM the MAILBOX
      2 min read

    • Article

      FROM the MAILBOX

      Jan 31, 2023

      FROM the MAILBOX
      2 min read

    • Article

      This New Religion

      Jun 2, 2020

      He introduced himself as Captain Jack Lash Lannigan, and he said that he was an Irish pirate. “You don’t sound very Irish,” I told him, and he laughed. We—Maia, Gustav and I—had met Captain Jack outside the Nocturnem Draft Haus, a bar on Main Street

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Advent Of Christmas

      Nov 9, 2023

      The Advent Of Christmas
      6 min read

    • Article

      Charades Anyone?

      Nov 10, 2022

      Charades Anyone?
      6 min read

    • Article

      Your Letters

      Apr 8, 2022

      Your Letters
      6 min read

    • Article

      Kid’s Pond

      Sep 9, 2021

      “DALE SLIPPED AT the kid’s pond a few days ago and I couldn’t get him up.” There was an air of apology in my dad’s voice, but sitting there at dinner I felt a stab of nausea below my sternum. On this expansive, isolated Idaho plain, no sign exists at

      4 min read

    • Article

      Children Of The Revolution

      Aug 17, 2021

      Children Of The Revolution
      6 min read

    • Article

      Growing Up With Ghosts

      Nov 30, 2023

      Many families preserve their own stories or traditions of a ghost. Dr Christopher Laursen from Canada comments: “There are far more occurring than we will ever know about, and most are probably very weak or minor in scope, lasting a very brief period

      9 min read

    • Article

      Across The Whited Fields

      Oct 13, 2019

      In a twilight streeta small girl laughing. The red and yellow flowersprofuse, inhale the air. We want to hold your name,Polly, dancing in the rain Polly, skipping down the street.Sometimes the world bequeaths then takes away the one to whomou

      14 min read

    • Article

      The Last Touch

      Aug 26, 2022

      The Last Touch
      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh - Dwayne Buhler

      Gold,

      Common Sense

      And Myrrh

      DWAYNE K. BUHLER

      Wesbrook Bay Books

      .

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 Dwayne K. Buhler

      All rights reserved.

      ISBN:0-9879376-3-6

      ISBN-13:9780987937636

      PUBLISHED BY WESBROOK BAY BOOKS

      308A - 3338 WESBROOK MALL

      VANCOUVER, V6S 0A6

      Cover design by Donna Casey, Digital Donna

      Interior layout and design by B.D. Greenwood

      Without limiting the right under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both Dwayne K. Buhler and Wesbrook Bay Books.

      The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or by any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials.

      Ebook formatting by www.ebooklaunch.com

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Acknowledgments

      1. Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh (Canada, 1944)

      2. A Piñata for Rosita (Mexico)

      3. Danger Pay (Laos)

      4. Another Bethlehem (Samoa, 1837)

      5. The Last Carving (Spain)

      6. The Miracle in Rio (Brazil)

      7. Salzburg Silence (Austria)

      8. Puppies for Christmas (England)

      9. The Refugee (Egypt)

      10. The Woodcutter’s Tale (Bethlehem, 30 A.D.)

      A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR

      The ten stories in Gold, Common Sense and Myrrh are the product of my family’s tradition. Each Christmas Eve my children awaited a new tale from a different country. They learned that people around the world celebrate Christ’s birth with their own cultural traits.

      My children are now grow up, but we still talk about our special Christmas Eve stories. We lived in Canada, Brazil and Mexico, and learned to appreciate the cultural heritage of our friends in those countries. We shared meals and traditions with each other, celebrating the great gift that God gave us on the first Christmas. Our family is richer for living in Brazil and Mexico, and we thank God for each of our extended international family.

      The stories in this collection are fictional, yet many of the characters take on the life-like traits of the people, time period and the cultures they represent. With the exception of the family of John Williams, the adventurer and missionary who took his family to the Samoan Islands in 1837, all the people’s names are a creation of my mind.

      My hope as I write this collection is to give families a way to focus on the true story and hope that Jesus brings to our lives. His birth is celebrated in many ways and the traditions we build are not the focal point. Our family learned this as we lived in Latin America, learning to adopt the customs and ways of the people around us. Their traditions made our celebration richer and caused us to appreciate the universal celebration of Emmanuel—God with us.

      Dwayne K. Buhler

      Vancouver, B.C., Canada

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      My wife and children were the first to hear the stories. Many times they were rough and scrawled on lined note paper, but they cheered me on. My wife, Rhonda, spent many hours reading through the versions, draining the ink of several red pens. To them I am grateful and could not have attempted this project without their support.

      I want to thank those who helped in the process to produce the book you now hold in your hands. Marnie Wooding helped with story editing, while Marianne Mendgen added her eye for detail with a line-by-line edit. Beverley Greenwood brought her experience as a publisher and writer, guiding me through the steps needed to complete this project with excellence. Thank you to each one for your part.

      1

      GOLD, COMMON SENSE AND MYRRH

      Johnny Martens sat on the hard pew, straining to pay attention to the Sunday school pageant. He wished he could be one of the shepherds, or maybe a wise man. But as he glanced at his shriveled legs, he was reminded of what the doctor said: He may never walk without crutches. Johnny was just glad to be out of the hospital for Christmas.

      Johnny looked up and saw his cousin. Punch was a shepherd and as he turned to look at Johnny he accidently knocked the Virgin Mary on the head with his staff. The children’s choir and biblical characters all giggled. The back half of the donkey peeked out from under his cover to see what was happening.

      It might have gone unnoticed, but when Punch pulled back he stumbled and knocked a crown off one of the wise men. The surprised wise man looked like a court jester, not a regal king. The crown fell into the manger, nearly striking the baby Jesus. The pale-looking, plastic doll didn’t feel a thing and the foil-covered crown only suffered minimal damage, breaking off one point. The Sunday school superintendent scowled, while the audience broke out in belly-jiggling laughter.

      The people at church needed the comic relief brought from the swinging shepherd’s crook. 1944 had been a difficult year on the farm. The nation was at war and people were recovering from the hard times of the Great Depression. Grain prices were better this year, but a late summer hailstorm flattened most of the wheat crop and left farmers in the area scrambling to make it through another winter. In Next Year Land - the name many gave to the Canadian prairies - it seemed like Christmas was the time that signaled a change from complaining about last year’s losses to the beginning of hope for a better time. While the children on stage understood little of these things, they knew that the Christmas Eve presentation was one of the few flickers of light in their holiday season.

      Johnny sat propped between his grandparents. Mother was playing piano and his father was out back preparing the candy bags which the children would receive after the service. Johnny was glad to be home, especially since the doctor said that the worst was over. He’d spent the last four months at St. Boniface’s Hospital in Winnipeg, fighting for his life in the polio ward. He enjoyed the sight of the flickering candles and the shimmering tree. He watched the Sunday school classes enact the story, but he wished he had something special he could add to the Christmas pageant.

      The rest of the evening went without a hitch. Everyone who was supposed to show up at the manger scene found their way to the stage. The adult choir bellowed a heart-warming version of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus. Pastor Hiebert closed in prayer, and before the n in Amen could be pronounced, the children were off and running to claim a candy bag. That is, everyone rushed to the back except for Johnny.

      Adults stood and laughed and hugged. The quickest children were already sorting through their bags, setting their mandarin oranges aside while they picked through the peanuts to find licorice and hard candies. For the first time in the evening, Johnny felt alone.

      Just then, Punch and another cousin, Edwin, showed up. Look what we got ya! they said in unison. Punch and Edwin were Johnny’s favorite cousins.

      Both boys grasped their treasures in a brown paper bag. Your dad asked us to give this to you, said Punch, extending him a full goodie bag.

      Punch’s real name was Peter, but somewhere, sometime, he was tagged with Punch. He claimed it was because he was destined to become a great boxer and that it was given to him by a preacher - a former heavyweight something or other - who spent a week in his parent’s home. But his older brothers said it was because he had taken one too many - whatever that meant. He was the youngest child in his family and took the brunt of his brothers’ teasing.

      Edwin offered a mocking bow. Royal treatment, fit for a king!

      Edwin was only two days older than Johnny and liked to be called Edwin, not Ed, because that was the name of his mother’s father. She died giving birth to Edwin, something that people in his family would say was the way God intended it to be. Edwin’s father remarried two years later. His stepmother was a nice lady, but she seldom had time for him.

      The three cousins sat in a row, facing the front of the church. Johnny’s candy bag was placed to one side. He peeled a mandarin orange, taking special care to take off all of the white stuff, making a neat pile within the green china-paper wrapper. Punch and Edwin were in the middle of negotiating a trade: two raspberry candies for one of Edwin’s licorice sticks. It seemed like a fair bargain. The three didn’t notice the stranger who approached them.

      Looks like a treasure fit for a king, said the tall man. But the story’s not over. Would you three be able to help me?

      The boys looked at each other, then at Johnny’s mother who stood beside the man. She nodded, giving permission for the boys to follow.

      The man looked familiar and wore a kind smile. He was dressed like one of the three kings in the pageant, and held the tin-foil crown with a broken point in his hand. His golden hair seemed to glimmer in the light. There’s still one scene left in the play. Please come with me.

      Punch and Edwin grabbed their candy bags and helped Johnny to his feet. He walked with a limp, but could make his way slowly if he held onto their shoulders. They followed obediently through the side door of the sanctuary.

      As the boys stepped through the door, they walked onto a large stage. They had never noticed the large auditorium before, and wonder filled their hearts. Their

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1