Like most boys in the kingdom, Joshua dreams of being called to battle for his King. But when the call comes, will his own pride and vanity lead him off the path to the city? Boy Soldier is a picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, how it crushes our foolish notions about what God wants from his people, and how it leads us to freedom. But it's also the adventure of a boy and his mule.There lived a boy once, a very long time ago, whose name was Joshua. He grew up in the country, on a small farm far from the noise and close air of the city, and though he was a boy, he worked a man's day, so he was quite strong…Part IIn which Joshua comes to a very big, very important understanding.One day, this Joshua was at work in the fields loading bundles of grain onto a wagon when a peddler, leading a mule that pulled a wagon piled high with all manner of things, stopped at the fence by the road and shouted for the boy to come."I'm afraid I have no money to buy what you're selling," said Joshua when he was close enough to speak politely."Don't mind about that," replied the peddler. "Besides, what I want you to have you cannot buy, for in addition to being a peddler extraordinaire, I am also a servant of the King, and the King has called all who would to come at once to the city. Here." And the peddler held out a handbill—that's an old fashioned kind of flyer—that read:Come!Any who calls himselfmy soldier, Come!And be preparedfor war!So begins the story of Joshua's preparation for warfare. Though as it turns out, his ideas and King's are as far apart as strange things can be...

Eliah’s heart, broken and deeply scarred from wounds long ago, was as cold and as hard as the hillside on which he slept. And left to himself, he would have kept it that way—a heart of stone, after all, feels no pain. But on this night, he would not be left to himself.“...Joshua would not put away his talk. ‘And you, Eliah Ben Elam?’ he went on. ‘What would you offer Messiah should he come before the dawn?’ Eliah raised himself as if to scold the youth for his impudence, but stopped suddenly, just as the harsh words were coming. He glared beyond the boys, beyond the hills toward Bethlehem, and thought for a long moment, searching. Then he said heavily, “I have nothing left for Messiah. For he has already taken everything from me.’” Eliah’s heart, broken and scarred over long ago, was as cold and as hard as the frozen hillside on which he slept. And he would keep it that way—a heart of stone, after all, feels no pain. But on this night, his calloused heart would collide with something much harder, much stronger: a crying infant determined to remake the world.A Gift for Messiah points us to the heart of the Christmas message: that Christ came to give us life, to remake the world one new heart at a time.