Most of us don’t think about the places that define us until we’re reminded of memories from our youth. My small-town upbringing still impacts my life. Sometimes I miss living where the bank teller knew my name and all in attendance at my small church felt like family. Dickens’ fictional character Scrooge is taken back by the ghost of Christmas past to see the places that defined who he was, thus beginning a process of change in him.


There were places which would identify Jesus, too, and they were prophesied long before He was even born. Micah told us He would be born in Bethlehem; Hosea said He would live in Egypt (2:15); other prophets said He’d come from Nazareth (Matthew 2:23). God gave us key places in Jesus’ life before He was born so we would recognize Him. Being born into poverty, spending time in a foreign land, and growing up in a despised community allow Jesus to sympathize with us. Unlike Scrooge whose past places sparked change in him, our unchanging Savior has come to change us!