A Christmas I’ll Never Forget
When I was growing up, my grandfather worked for the highway department. When there was snow, he would climb into a big truck and plow until the roads were open. I remember him telling us that there were no heaters or defrosters in the old trucks. He would take a kerosene lantern and put it at his feet for heat and place another lantern on the dash to act as a defroster.
One Christmas Eve, it was snowing and Granddaddy was out plowing snow. He had told my grandmother that he would come home to have dinner with the family. When he pulled in, he had a whole family in the truck with him. The family was going to their home for Christmas and had gotten stuck in the snow. My grandfather insisted they come with him. Their family and my whole family gathered around the dining room and kitchen tables and celebrated Christmas together. My grandfather’s house was small and heated with wood stoves but that didn’t make any difference. We all had plenty to eat and celebrated the birth of Jesus together as one big family.
After dinner, we got our tractor, chain and flashlights and took the family to their car to pull it out of the ditch. The birth of Christ tells us how much God loves us and, to celebrate Christmas, we need to love one another as God first loved us. Welcoming a stranger into a home filled with food and happiness has had an impact on my life. It just seemed like the natural thing for my grandfather to do.
May your Christmas be filled with good food, warmth and family, and may you celebrate the joy and love Jesus has for each of us.
Isaiah 40:3-5 – “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth, And all mankind will see God’s salvation.”
By the Rev. Tommy Herndon