Gemma Willis. Illustrated by Emma Randall

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1 Gemma Willis Illustrated by Emma Randall

2 Copyright Scripture Union 2016 First published 2016 ISBN All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Scripture Union. The right of Gemma Willis to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act Emma Randall has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, to be identified as illustrator of this work. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library. Printed in India by Thomson Press India Ltd Cover and internal design by Emma Randall Scripture Union is an international Christian charity working with churches in more than 130 countries. Thank you for purchasing this book. Any profits from this book support SU in England and Wales to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to children, young people and families and to enable them to meet God through the Bible and prayer. Find out more about our work and how you can get involved at: (England and Wales) (Scotland) (Northern Ireland) (USA) (Australia)

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4 and a very warm welcome to my My name is Luke., actually. And I have been carefully a series of mysterious events. And because I m a bit of a, I ve decided to write all of my investigations down, just for you. of other people have but I want you to hear to write it all down before, side of the sto ry. it all starts with a woman called 2

5 Elizabeth Zechariah (husband) Mary (cousin) 0 : Very old Lives in a little house up a hill in Judea Zechariah Elizabeth (wife) : Very old Very important Temple in Jerusalem 0

6 Elizabeth was. She was married to Zechariah (who was also very old), who was a kind of special religious leader and he worked with a group of other special vicars who took it in turns to burn in the (kind of like a Jewish church). it was Zechariah s turn to do the burning (he burned incense that s the as a way of helping people to God) and while he was inside on his own, something happened. A large, glowing, bright man-shaped thing appeared out of nowhere and said, 4

7 Ha ha. Don t be scared?? I mean, a big glowing man just appeared and fancied a chat! Zechariah was, to the spot, and when he heard what the man had to say he just couldn t believe his

8 The man said, You and your wife are going to have a called. Zechariah thought this guy was, and pretty much told him so which was a bit of a mistake.. Because then the man introduced himself as the (still scary!) and told Zechariah he d not be able to until John was born. always listen to what angels say, As a sounded a bit I can tell you that I d have thought it all too, I mean super don t just suddenly start having babies. It doesn t that way! 6

9 Poor Zechariah had to invent his version of so that he could tell everyone what had happened to him. When he got home to Elizabeth and managed to wave his arms around enough so that she could understand what had happened, she was even more than he was. 7

10 the about again, only this time he was in a was out and town called azareth, having a chat with a woman called 8

11 He was telling her all sorts of things (that God had told him to say), so he couldn t understand why Mary seemed. I mean, what s scary about being told that God, that he s and that to have and God s going to be the and you have to call him That s not scary at all if you re the angel Gabriel. Gabriel also said, Oh, by the way, your cousin is having a too. Mary took a If it s what God wants, then and calmly said, OK.. She must ve been brave. 9

12 went to see and she was definitely pregnant, either that or she d eaten a for breakfast. Elizabeth was to see Mary that both she and baby John up and down for, and Mary started to dance and sing: God is, I can hardly believe it Why d he choose me, I m really not a good fit But he has me, because he is epic And I will praise him, cos he s 10

13 He s good, he s kind I can t believe he had me on his mind He s, he s It s amazing he s us all for so long God is, I can hardly believe it, He has chosen, so now I ll do my bit He s my, he s my He is, he s the Lord of all! 11

14 everyone told her she should call him, Elizabeth had her baby and after his dad. Elizabeth tried to tell them all she wanted to call him, but they were having. Zechariah started waving his arms about like again and everyone stared at him.. Then he grabbed something to write on and scribbled down something that looked vaguely like Joan, Joon Jobo. But eventually someone said, Does that say? 12

15 At that moment Zechariah suddenly blurted out: then he pulled a rather His name is face and said, Hey! Did I just say that? Everyone stopped and stared at old Zechariah. He hadn t said a word for whole months (not even a all of a how rude!) and then he could speak again. eh? But the people began to wonder There must be something special about this John baby, maybe God might ve had something to do with it Baby John became the subject of village pretty quickly! 13

16 Zechariah was at being able to talk again, that words just wouldn t He was,,, and all at once. God has done it again! He s really us all Just like he said he would He breaks a promise. He s us, He s us, He s us, He s 14

17 And John, (Zechariah him on his knee as he said this), you re going to be the start of it! You re going to tell people what s coming, you re going to be like a. (Very comment from a father there.)

18 As John grew up, he was still a in the local charts, especially when he decided to go off and live in the desert, wear hair and eat only supposed to be a and insects. Tasty. How was he in the desert? No one ever even went there! 16

and a very warm welcome to my And I have been carefully a series of mysterious events. And because I m, I ve decided to write all

1 and a very warm welcome to my My name is Luke., actually. And I have been carefully a series of mysterious events. And because I m a bit of a, I ve decided to write all of my investigations down, just