Pa Rum Pa Pum Pum

Dear Friends & Family of Wesley, December 5, 2025

I don’t know the actual numbers, but many Americans will stream the movie Four Christmases this season. Odds are that more people will hear the Nativity story from Dwight Yoakam’s Pastor Phil than actually reading it, which I suppose might be better than not hearing it at all. If you are unfamiliar, Vince Vaughn’s Brad is coerced into a last-minute performance of the role of Joseph. Brad delivers an over the top and outlandish version of the earthly father of our Lord, who questions Mary’s mothering abilities and even takes it upon himself to swaddle the Baby Jesus.

Pastor Phil urges a stage-frightened Mary to place Jesus in the manger, because the story and the church service can’t continue until someone puts him in there. It’s a wildly awkward scene for sure, but I’m not convinced it’s any more awkward than the actual events that we will celebrate in the coming weeks. There has never been a stranger thing than the God of the Universe becoming flesh, being gently placed in a wooden feed box, and then violently attached to a rugged cross. What a crazy story we cling to…but it is a good story…and it is THE story.

My whole life I have been in love with stories, especially stories that matter, stories that draw me in and help me find purpose. From Twain & Tolkien to Lucas & Lewis, great storytellers have shaped me and helped me make sense of this life I’ve been given to steward.

All my favorite stories have a connection to the Great Story. In the 2022 song The Manger, Anne Wilson & Josh Turner sing about the lonely & the lost sinner who’s not too far gone to find a savior, how the star is calling us to come make our way to where our hope is found, and how without God Incarnate the story just wouldn’t be as good.

There are some great stories happening on our campus. God is still reaching down into the stories of students who are lost and lonely, who sometimes think they are too far gone. Stories of fraternity guys fleeing the bar scene and beginning to pursue Christ, athletes understanding their identity is rooted in their Creator instead of in their competitive sport, freshman realizing they are not alone, seniors believing they have a powerful legacy to leave before they leap into the working world, students from Nepal hearing the Gospel for the first time – God is telling some incredible stories.

In a couple of weeks, we will take our largest mission trip ever – 40 people. In January, we will lead the Kappa Sigma brotherhood retreat for the 4th year in a row. Such good stuff as the pages turn.

Netflix, Prime, Disney, Apple, Max – they all have their stories. And people will stream just about anything these days. However, as people of Christ at the ULM Wesley Foundation, we continue to shine like the Morning Star, holding out the Word of Life and inviting students to find their truth in the Great Story.

Thanks for all your help in the turbulent times of 2025! Please stay in the story with us. We can’t (and don’t want to) tell it without you! Your End of Year Gift is precious to us…like a little boy & his drum! A Rum Pa Pum Pum…we are part of the Kingdom Come! Let us honor Him together in 2026!

Merry Christmas!

Alan Johnson