Knowing Him Daily

24.December.2025

For decades, this Christmas story has been one of my own treasured traditions. Long before podcasts and streaming, Paul Harvey’s trusted voice would come through the radio, steady and familiar, carrying with it a message that somehow felt both simple and profound. Year after year, I would pause and listen, knowing what was coming, and yet wanting to hear it again.

This modern day parable of Christmas has endured not because it is flashy or sentimental, but because it speaks truth with clarity and heart. Paul’s warm, sincere delivery captured something rare, an ability to communicate the meaning of Christmas in a way that reaches beyond theology and settles gently into our hearts.

What was once heard over the airwaves has been preserved in this audio performance, still carrying that same warmth and sincerity, still inviting the listener to reflect on why God chose to come near. My hope is that this story continues to be shared for many years to come, reminding us that the heart of Christmas is not found in tradition alone, but in the timeless truth it points us toward.

With sincere gratitude, I give homage to the late Paul Harvey, whose faithful retelling of this story became a Christmas simple yet powerful tradition for so many, including me. 

Below is a link to the YouTube audio presentation of this story, shared for those who are able to access it. I recognize, however, that not everyone around the world has access to U.S. YouTube content. For that reason, the written version of the story is included below, so that no one is excluded from hearing this meaningful message.

It is my hope that wherever you are reading from, and whatever circumstances surround you this season, this story meets you with the same warmth, clarity, and encouragement that it has brought to so many over the years. Christmas was never meant to be limited by borders, technology, or distance, and neither is the message it carries.

May these words reach hearts near and far, reminding us that the true meaning of Christmas is for all people, everywhere.

https://youtu.be/WhXrZctyxWY?si=EQcTs1gBXu8sQMd4

The Man and the Birds – Author Unknown

As told by Paul Harvey

“The man I’m going to tell you about was not a scrooge, he was a kind decent, mostly good man. Generous to his family and upright in his dealings with other men. But he just didn’t believe in all of that incarnation stuff that the churches proclaim at Christmas time. It just didn’t make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He just couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to Earth as a man.He told his wife I’m truly sorry to distress you, but I’m not going with you to church this Christmas Eve. He said he would feel like a hypocrite and that he would much rather just stay at home, but that he would wait up for them. So he stayed and they went to the midnight service.Shortly after the family drove away in the car, snow began to fall. He went to the window to watch the flurries getting heavier and heavier and then he went back to his fireside chair and began to read his newspaper.Minutes later he was startled by a thudding sound. Then another … and then another. At first he thought someone must be throwing snowballs against the living room window. But when he went to the front door to investigate he found a flock of birds huddled outside miserably in the snow. They’d been caught in the storm and in a desperate search for shelter they had tried to fly through his large landscape window. That is what had been making the sound.

Well, he couldn’t let the poor creatures just lie there and freeze, so he remembered the barn where his children stabled their pony. That would provide a warm shelter. All he would have to do is to direct the birds into the shelter.Quickly, he put on a coat and galoshes and he tramped through the deepening snow to the barn. He opened the doors wide and turned on a light so the birds would know the way in. But the birds did not come in.So, he figured that food would entice them. He hurried back to the house and fetched some bread crumbs. He sprinkled them on the snow, making a trail of bread crumbs to the yellow-lighted wide open doorway of the stable. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the bread crumbs.The birds continued to flap around helplessly in the snow. He tried catching them but could not. He tried shooing them into the barn by walking around and waving his arms. Instead, they scattered in every direction … every direction except into the warm lighted barn.And that’s when he realized they were afraid of him. To them, he reasoned, I am a strange and terrifying creature. If only I could think of some way to let them know that they can trust me. That I am not trying to hurt them, but to help them. But how? Any move he made tended to frighten them and confuse them. They just would not follow. They would not be led or shooed because they feared him.He thought to himself, if only I could be a bird and mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe warm … to the safe warm barn. But I would have to be one of them so they could see … and hear … and understand.At that moment the church bells began to ring. The sound reached his ears above the sounds of the wind.

He stood there listening to the bells, Adeste Fidelis, listening to the bells pealing the glad tidings of Christmas. And he sank to his knees in the snow … **Merry Christmas**

Tomorrow is Christmas, but tonight we prepare our hearts. See you tomorrow.

If you’ve never surrendered to Jesus or have strayed, it’s not too late. He’s waiting to restore and renew you. Return to Him today and say this out loud:

Dear Heavenly Father ~ Thank You for sending Jesus to die on the Cross just for me. I admit that I have sinned, and I repent. I ask You to forgive me. I believe that He died and rose again. Right now, I make Him the Lord of my life. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit. My sins are washed away, my past is forgiven, and my future is bright. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus’ Name Amen.