Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! How about a little "Praise Joe"?

He had reached a point of frustration. His wife was a born again Christian now and like so many new believers, she was so excited that all she could talk about was Jesus. Joe was a no nonsense guy who was good husband and dad and was feeling a little out of the loop, due to his wife's new found zeal.

Joe, who hosted the very first Bible study I ever attended, was honest. I learned that sometimes it is easy to feel hard done by, like no one recognizes all you do. It's a guy thing. Later, he would testify about his own encounter with the Lord and now it was he who kept saying, "Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord."

We don't know a whole lot about Joseph, Mary's husband, who played a crucial role in the events that led up to the birth of the Savior. We know he was a carpenter. We know he was of the house (lineage) of David. We know loved his wife and didn't exercise the option to have her executed.

We also know that he bore up under the rumors and innuendos and whispers. We know that he was a devout Jew. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and explained what had happened and how Mary was going to give birth to the Messiah. All we really know about his response is that he woke up and did exactly what he was told.

We know that God Almighty entrusted the care and discipline of His Son to the care of this no name, plain old Joe. They had other children and one of the early leaders of the church that changed the world was another of Joseph's sons, James.

There is no record of his death. He just disappears from the history books. Plain old Joe.

• Craftsman
• Protector
• Worshiper
• Obedient Servant
• Devoted husband
• A dad who earned the respect and obedience of the Son of God
• The one who was not in all the pictures, because he was taking them

I wish a blessed Christmas to all the "plain old Joe's." God sees what you do and who you are.