God Can Use a Cartoon

When I was in elementary school I loved the show Hey! Arnold. Last year I found the entire series at Walmart for $20 and bought if for nostalgia's sake. There's only one Christmas episode in the entire series and tonight I decided to watch it.

In the episode, Arnold along with his grandparents and all the people that live in their boarding house draw names for secret Santa. Arnold draws the name of his quiet neighbor, Mr. Hyunh. Not knowing what to get him for Christmas, Arnold goes over to visit with Mr. Hyunh in hopes of getting an idea for a gift. As he talks to Mr. Hyunh, he finds that Christmas is a very hard time for the man because it reminds him of the daughter he had to give up during the Korean war. As Mr. Hyunh tells Arnold the story, it shows him as a young man handing his only daughter over to a soldier on a plane that had room for but one passenger, hoping she'll have a better life away from the turmoil they were currently living in. It's a pretty sad thing, especially for a kid's cartoon. But as I watched Mr. Hyunh handing over his daughter, it made me think of God and Jesus. God did the very same thing thousands of years ago around this time of year. How hard that must of been, to give away the most perfect person God ever made. But He did it willingly and He did it so we could have better lives. How wonderful a thing.

God is mentioned nowhere in this episode. Christmas is described as a day on which we are to do good will toward men and put others before ourselves; and honestly, I think that's right because that's what Jesus does. But it isn't the real meaning of Christmas. Yet even so, with the illustration of Mr. Hyunh giving his daughter away, the writers and creators of Hey! Arnold demonstrated the love of God and the reason Christmas isn't simply the 25th of December.

God can use a cartoon that never acknowledges Him to point you back to Him and I'm glad He does.