Nine years ago today was one of those days best spent inside with a good book and a cup of hot coffee. A cold rain was falling on Covington, Kentucky. My task for the day? Go to church, pick up several Christmas gifts and deliver them to five or six apartments in the projects. The community was called The Terrace. These apartments had been built on the side of a steep hill, thus the name Terrace. I had worked my way up each terrace row until I reached the top. The last apartment, the last gifts to deliver, pick up my wife at the office where she was working -- then home to a nice warm house where I would stay for the rest of the day.
I parked at the top behind the apartment where the last gifts were to be dropped off. A little girl about ten years old had been watching for me. She was excited knowing that I was bringing probably the only gifts she would be getting. She ran up the hill to meet me and offered to help with the packages. I handed her one, tucked the rest securely in my arms, and began making my descent toward her home. She went down a grassy area, and I took the narrow steps. The wind had picked up, and was blowing the rain sideways right into my face. My chin was resting on the top package. I could barely see where I was going, and the rain hitting me directly in the face further hindered my visibility. Turning sideways I was able to get my bearing to find that first step.
The first step! No one had told me that rain changing to freezing rain had been predicted. Freezing rain on concrete steps spells danger for a sixty year old man carrying an arm load of Christmas gifts. Do you know how fast a person can go from the top of a flight of steps to the bottom? I do! The gifts were in good shape, but I was not. It took me a while to recover my breath. I was wet, hands were bleeding, and my right side was killing me. I remembered that pain from ten years before when I had fallen trying to ice skate for the first time. I knew what broken ribs felt like.
The little girl and I managed to get the gifts to her house. Her dad was busy playing his video game on his nice TV set while smoking his cigarette. I immediately noticed his hefty supply of beer and party treats on the kitchen table. He was so wrapped up in his game that he had no idea that I was there. I was in no mood to stand there waiting for him to finish. Maybe I was a bit rude in interrupting him, but at the moment I didn’t care. I was as nice as I could be under the circumstances. His precious daughter was standing there wanting for her dad to see all the gifts I had brought. Despite her dad’s obvious lack of hospitality and dead beat lifestyle I knew that God loved him. After speaking briefly with the man I turned to leave. The little girl came to the door, hugged me and said Merry Christmas. She was so sweet. I have since wondered whatever happened to her. She would be nineteen or twenty now.
That night I started having spasms so bad that the EMTs were called, and I was taken to the hospital. In the ambulance that night, I learned that morphine was my best friend in that particular situation. It was confirmed that I had cracked two ribs and because of that Christmas Eve was very painful. That night we got a call that my daughter Leigh had gone into labor. Christmas Day was spent in the waiting room at a hospital in Louisville, and around 5 o’clock that afternoon our beautiful, precious granddaughter Kaelin was born. What a special Christmas gift! She will be 9 in two more days. She has been a joyful blessing to all of us.
Many years ago in the waiting room of life a precious baby was born. He was born to relieve mankind from the pain that sin had brought. He was born to heal our brokenness, our wounds and to warm the coldness of our hearts. He was born to give hope to the down and out who have lost all hope. He was born a blessing to us all. Yes, what a blessed Gift! Merry Christmas!
I parked at the top behind the apartment where the last gifts were to be dropped off. A little girl about ten years old had been watching for me. She was excited knowing that I was bringing probably the only gifts she would be getting. She ran up the hill to meet me and offered to help with the packages. I handed her one, tucked the rest securely in my arms, and began making my descent toward her home. She went down a grassy area, and I took the narrow steps. The wind had picked up, and was blowing the rain sideways right into my face. My chin was resting on the top package. I could barely see where I was going, and the rain hitting me directly in the face further hindered my visibility. Turning sideways I was able to get my bearing to find that first step.
The first step! No one had told me that rain changing to freezing rain had been predicted. Freezing rain on concrete steps spells danger for a sixty year old man carrying an arm load of Christmas gifts. Do you know how fast a person can go from the top of a flight of steps to the bottom? I do! The gifts were in good shape, but I was not. It took me a while to recover my breath. I was wet, hands were bleeding, and my right side was killing me. I remembered that pain from ten years before when I had fallen trying to ice skate for the first time. I knew what broken ribs felt like.
The little girl and I managed to get the gifts to her house. Her dad was busy playing his video game on his nice TV set while smoking his cigarette. I immediately noticed his hefty supply of beer and party treats on the kitchen table. He was so wrapped up in his game that he had no idea that I was there. I was in no mood to stand there waiting for him to finish. Maybe I was a bit rude in interrupting him, but at the moment I didn’t care. I was as nice as I could be under the circumstances. His precious daughter was standing there wanting for her dad to see all the gifts I had brought. Despite her dad’s obvious lack of hospitality and dead beat lifestyle I knew that God loved him. After speaking briefly with the man I turned to leave. The little girl came to the door, hugged me and said Merry Christmas. She was so sweet. I have since wondered whatever happened to her. She would be nineteen or twenty now.
That night I started having spasms so bad that the EMTs were called, and I was taken to the hospital. In the ambulance that night, I learned that morphine was my best friend in that particular situation. It was confirmed that I had cracked two ribs and because of that Christmas Eve was very painful. That night we got a call that my daughter Leigh had gone into labor. Christmas Day was spent in the waiting room at a hospital in Louisville, and around 5 o’clock that afternoon our beautiful, precious granddaughter Kaelin was born. What a special Christmas gift! She will be 9 in two more days. She has been a joyful blessing to all of us.
Many years ago in the waiting room of life a precious baby was born. He was born to relieve mankind from the pain that sin had brought. He was born to heal our brokenness, our wounds and to warm the coldness of our hearts. He was born to give hope to the down and out who have lost all hope. He was born a blessing to us all. Yes, what a blessed Gift! Merry Christmas!
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