Look at the Candy Cane
What do you see?
Stripes that are red
Like the blood shed for me
White is for my Savior
Who's sinless and pure!
"J" is for Jesus, My Lord, that's for sure!
Turn it around
And a staff you will see
Jesus my shepherd
Was born for Me!



Many years ago, a candy maker wanted to make
a candy at Christmas time that would serve as
a witness to his Christian faith. He wanted to
incorporate several symbols for the birth,
ministry and death of Jesus. He began with
a stick of pure white hard candy; white to
symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless
nature of Jesus; hard to symbolize the solid
rock, the foundation of the Church; firmness
to represent the promise of God. The candymaker
made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent
the name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior.
He thought it could also represent the staff of the
Good Shepherd, with which he reached down into
the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who,
like all sheep, have gone astray.



Thinking that the candy was somewhat plain,
the candymaker stained it with red stripes.
He used three small stripes to show the stripes
of the scourging Jesus received, by which we are healed.
The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ
on the cross so that we could have the promise of
eternal life. Unfortunately, the candy became known
as a candy cane - a meaningless decoration seen at
Christmas time. But the true meaning is still there for
those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.



"For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."
John 3:16








Germany is credited with starting the Christmas
tree tradition in the sixteenth century when
devout Christians brought decorated trees
into their homes.
Many legends exist about the origin of the
Christmas tree. One is the story of Saint
Boniface, an English monk who organized
the Christian Church in France and Germany.
One day, as he traveled about, he came upon
a group of pagans gathered around a great
oak tree about to sacrifice a child to the god Thor.
To stop the sacrifice and save the child's life
Boniface felled the tree with one mighty blow
of his fist. In its place grew a small fir tree.
The saint told the pagan worshipers that
the tiny fir was the Tree of Life and represented
the eternal life of Christ.



Another legend holds that Martin Luther, a
founder of the Protestant faith, was walking
through the forest one Christmas Eve. As he
walked he was awed by the beauty of millions
of stars glimmering through the branches of
the evergreen trees. So taken was he by this
beautiful sight that he cut a small tree and
took it home to his family. To recreate that
same starlight beauty he saw in the wood,
he placed candles on all its branches.



Yet another legend tells of a poor woodsman
who long ago met a lost and hungry child on
Christmas Eve. Though very poor himself, the
woodsman gave the child food and shelter
for the night. The woodsman woke the next
morning to find a beautiful glittering tree
outside his door. The hungry child was really
the Christ Child in disguise. He created the
tree to reward the good man for his charity.