This is Angela Odell, and you are listening to Real Cool History for Kids, a podcast show featuring history told from a distinctly biblical worldview perspective. Welcome to an adventure.

Welcome to episode 143 of Real Cool History for Kids. This is a special Christmas episode, and it's for Ila and Zeke Sindelar.

Hey, Sindelar, kids, this one's for you. Christmas is my favorite holiday. I love the music and the

movies and the lights and the decorations and the gifts.

And although I'm not generally a huge fan of winter and cold, I really love a white Christmas.

There's just something so special about it.

Most of us have heard the story about how Jesus, our Savior, was born in a

stable, and how the angels came and visited the shepherds in the fields nearby, and were familiar

with the beautiful Christmas Carol, angels we have heard on high, sweetly singing o'er the plains.

But the story I'm going to tell you in this episode might not be

as familiar as all of that. At least it isn't for most people. In fact, most of the time when we

read through the Bible verses where this story is told, we don't even pause or really truly think about the words there.

But this time, I want to do just that.

Our story begins with an angel on a mission.

This wasn't just any angel.

This was Gabriel, one of three archangels created by God to be leaders of

his angel armies. These angels are, were sometimes used and still are used, to bring important

messages to earth. And there was never a more important message than the one that

Gabriel was about to deliver to a very young girl who lived in Nazareth. Let's read that

account. It's in Luke 1. Here's the startling message that this mighty angel gave to young Mary.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin

betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the girl's name was Mary.

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