An innkeeper Christmas.

Welcome, and we have another look into the life and message of Elizabeth Elliott,

who called us to live to a higher standard, to not be satisfied with just a little empty religion in life,

as a shallow substitute of what God wants us to have.

As our series continues, in the coming weeks, we'll hear from family, friends, and others who were influenced by the life and message of Elizabeth Alliot.

Welcome, as we think about the anniversary of sorts of when we started around this time in 2021.

Thanks, whether you've been here the whole time or just getting started on our journey with us.

Welcome.

Well, here on the Elizabeth Elliott Gateway to Joy broadcast, we consider a couple more Christmas stories, one about Christmas in prison, and an imaginative story of what the innkeeper may have been thinking.

We'll be hearing from Elizabeth's brother, Jim Howard, as he talks about a Christmas story related to Jim Elliott, back when Jim Howard was just seven years old.

And speaking of youngsters, we'll be hearing from Valerie Elliott Shepard, Elizabeth's daughter.

As a four-year-old at Christmas time, she was talking about things in her life.

Right now, though, we hear about the innkeeper. It's an imagining of the story of the man who kept the place where Joseph and Mary were not allowed to stay.

Maybe you've sung the song about no room at the end.

Hear about a dog named Noah and more. Let's imagine. Here's Elizabeth Elliott.

You are loved with an everlasting love. That's what the Bible says. And underneath are the

everlasting arms.

This is your friend, Elizabeth Elliott, reading a thin little book that just came out, I believe, last Christmas, by John Piper.

It's his imagining the innkeeper who kept the inn where Joseph and Mary arrived when she was about to give birth to her child.

Jake's wife would have been 58, the day that Jesus passed the gate of Bethlehem and slowly walked toward Jacob's Inn.

The people talked with friends and children played along the paths, and Jesus hummed a song, and smiled at every child he saw.

He paused with one small lass to draw a camel in the dirt, then said, what's this?

...