Back in my teen years, I wanted to be a captain. Not the captain of a ship. Nor of a football team. But the captain of a house. Let me explain.

At my high school, the entire student body was divvied into four teams that we called “houses.” Each house had a captain and vice-captain. These “elected officials” were kids from the 11^th or 12^th grades who wore shiny metal badges, looked important, and did convincingly critical things like making sure we underlings had our team chants right or participated with adequate enthusiasm on Sports Day. It was perhaps the relic of old-school British education that our colonizers left behind in India, but I wasn’t going to question it. I just desperately wanted to be captain. Or at least vice-captain. I even practiced my acceptance speech in the bathroom. I was ready for the day I would be elected.

But I never had the chance to share my well-rehearsed speech. In fact, I didn’t make the list of nominees for the election.

Perhaps it was my diminutive size. Or my Tweety-bird-like voice. Or my don’t-draw-attention-to-yourself personality. I wasn’t exactly the headline-grabbing kind. Almost thirty years later, I still continue to live under the radar.

But in God’s economy, size or skills (or their lack thereof) don’t disqualify you from fulfilling the role God intends for you. As we enter Advent and ponder on the Christmas story, we see how God uses obscure, mundane, easily overlooked elements in His story of coming to the earth as a baby.

Think for a moment about Bethlehem —  where the Son of God chose to draw His first breath on earth. Hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Micah speaks of this little-known, insignificant town:

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel… (Micah 5)

God could have chosen a far more impressive or influential location for His arrival. Throughout history, we see that rulers occupy the seat of power in the most prominent city of the land. Yet, God used a dazzling star to turn the spotlight on a town that was “small among the clans” of Judah (Yes, as a person of “pocket-sized proportions,” this line absolutely resonated with me).

One commentary puts it like this: “[Bethlehem] had nothing in it worthy to have this honor put upon it.”

That would be “nothing” — it didn’t “kinda, sorta” qualify. It has zero merit on its own.

And yet Christ chose to exalt this lowly place so that centuries later we would sing “Oh little town of Bethlehem” where in the dark streets shines the “everlasting light.”

As the story continues to unfold, notice the deliberate simplicity, the surprising littleness, and the refreshing ordinariness that God continues to weave into this powerful narrative.

Even in that obscure town of Bethlehem, His birthing suite was not a mansion, but a manger. His mother was not a “woman of substance,” but a girl of obedience. His earthly father was not the CEO of a multimillion-dollar conglomerate, but a hardworking carpenter. His first visitors were not the heads of other nations, but a group of startled, bedraggled shepherds, considered society’s riffraff.

And, yet, this was the stage that God designed for the earth-shattering event that divided history into AD and BC.

I don’t believe I’ve ever compared myself to a location or town before, but it struck me I can be a “Bethlehem” for God.

You and I don’t have to be influential or important for God to make His dwelling in us. This Advent, can we praise God for not waiting till we were “qualified” to come for us? In our weakness, His strength is indeed made perfect.

On our own, we will never ever be worthy of the investment of His love and the divestment of His life. We don’t have to vie for a position or prepare an acceptance speech — because He accepts us just as we are. I may not have qualified for “captain” in my teens, but I can thank God because He doesn’t call the qualified but qualifies the called.

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PS: If you’re still looking to start an Advent devotional, it’s not too late. Click here to start my 25-day Bible plan, Making Space, on YouVersion.

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