Not The Christmas Day We Expected

Christmas Eve was a beautiful evening with church services and time spent with our daughters, their husbands, and our four rambunctious grandchildren.  The children played and played with their toys.  The five-year old provided us with a Christmas rock concert using his new play electric guitar and headset.  It was the right kind of toy to drive his parents crazy.

Christmas Day was a quiet and lazy day for us as our daughters were visiting with their in-laws.  We decided to get out of the house and see a movie.  There has been two feet of snow this month, and cabin fever crabbiness has been evident.

As we headed out for an afternoon movie, the car started vibrating. Then the vibration would stop.  We made it to the theatre without difficulty.  As we were driving home and only a mile from our home, the car stopped completely.  It would not move forward in Drive, it would not Reverse, and it would not stay in Park.

Luckily, we were in a residential neighborhood. I inspired my husband to go across the street to a house that had lights on.  He knocked on the door to ask if we could push the car into their driveway and order a tow for first thing in the morning.  The man in the house refused to let us put the car in his driveway, as it would be an inconvenience to his guests.  Believe it or not, my husband still wished him a Merry Christmas.

We called the police department, since we were sitting in the middle of the street, and they called a tow truck for us.  As we sat waiting with our emergency blinkers on full alert, no less than twenty cars drove around us.  We were okay,  the engine was running and kept us warm,  but not one car stopped to see if we needed help.  I said to my husband, “The spirit of Jesus is missing from these people’s lives.  We need to pray for them.”

It wasn’t the Christmas Day we expected.  Perhaps, God wanted us to experience a different kind of Christmas.