So What is all this business about rubber ducks?

When Chad first started teaching college, one of the favorite class sessions was when the class dealt with the birth stories. Chad always asked students to read the two birth stories and to compare/contrast them, and students were often blown away at how wildly different those stories are. While our book does not go much into that direct detail, it was an anchor to Chad’s approach to the Gospels: each author paints a unique portrait of Jesus, and they paint that portrait by using different stories that make different points. Nowhere is that more clear than in the birth stories, where Matthew’s regal picture of Jesus has visiting foreigners asking Herod where the king is born, versus Luke’s picture of a poor and oppressed Jesus born in a cave and visited by some crumby shepherds. That was also the day when Chad would loudly fuss about how the magi don’t show up for a couple years, and lots of other things that students generally referred to as “rants."
That particular class session grew more legendary by the year, but it really peaked when, in the fall of 2011, Marilee Betz (now Good) and Jaime Fitzgerald, while wondering through a Hobby Lobby, came across a rubber duck nativity set which they bought and gifted to Chad. All of the ducks were yellow—including Balthasar, the African magi, whose rubber duck has a Jheri curl situation going on. Likewise, all the farm animals (yes, the farm animals that never appear in the actual Bible) are still ducks, so there is a sheep duck, a cow duck, and even a donkey duck (with an apparent mohawk). The Holy Mother is wearing her legendary blue hoodie, and there is even a sweet-looking angel duck. And while there is a Joseph duck, he still doesn’t matter.
Chad was also a new father at the time, and his otherwise adorable child was a terror after dark, refusing to sleep. Like, ever. When Chad decided to take popsicle sticks and build a nativity scene—including the never-mentioned-in-the-actual-Bible half-A-frame barn or baby crib (complete with shredded credit card statements as the straw)—he did so at 2 o’clock in the morning, holding a fussy kid in one hand and a hot glue gun in the other.
From there, the legend grew to a ridiculous level. “Nativity day” was probably the most famous single lecture by anyone on campus, and it was part class, part theater performance. Former students would crash class to see it a second time, several conversations were had about live-streaming the session, and Chad’s own mother once attended a performance, just to see what all the fuss was about. It was a really big deal, and virtually anyone at the college (and often people in various area churches somehow!) knew about “nativity day” or “rubber duck day."
While the rubber ducks are now safely stored in Chad’s home, the popsicle stick barn and manger were left hidden away on that college campus as a kind of “easter egg” for future generations of students.

This post is a part of our "F.A.Q.s" campaign, featuring our responses to actual questions posed by readers. Thanks to Shannon Tuell for suggesting this topic. For her trouble, she will be receiving an exclusive "I Read the Bible with Chad and Dave" sticker! If you'd like to submit a question for consideration, email [email protected].