Joshua grows up in a little town near Bethlehem. When, at fourteen, he finds himself orphaned, he struggles to maintain the family's blacksmithing business, but he is sabotaged by a lazy, dishonest employee. He turns to God for help, and God tells him, "Come to Bethlehem."

Leaving everything behind but his precious goatskin blanket, he journeys to Bethlehem, where he finds work at the town's inn. In return for his services cleaning out the filthy stable and fetching water for the inn, he is allowed to make the stable his home. He takes great pride in his new home, where he lives with...