Christmas Eve. As I sit gazing at a North Texas blizzard (okay, not too scary by Minnesota standards but it's serious snow for this area), I can hear kids playing video games, parents cooking up dinner, dogs circling for handouts, and multiple television sets blaring out various Christmas programs. Ours is a true family Christmas - we were amazed to see we took up a whole pew in church. We are indeed blessed.But I remember a Christmas Eve that was even better. It was many moons ago, when I was in college in the Northeast and dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Finals were late that year, and we got a big snow up in the mountains. Roads were passable, but no fun to drive on. I needed something from the grocery store, which was a few miles up the main road, and I decided to walk (my transportation in those days was great in good weather but not so good in blizzards). As I slogged through the snow on the way home, I saw a car slow down and then stop on the shoulder across the road. For an instant I hoped for a ride, then decided it was better to get the exercise and began to press on. I glanced back at the stopped car, and saw an elderly man labor to get out the driver's side door. Slowly he made his way to the trunk to get out a spare tire; turns out he had a flat on the other side of the car. So you might imagine I rushed to his aid? Hardly. My mind was filled with thoughts of the warm apartment, friends and food waiting for me not a half mile away - it was a busy road, surely somebody else would help? Nope. No cars stopped. None even slowed down. I was just us three - the elderly man, me, and my conscience. My nagging, loud, "I don't care if you're cold" conscience. Worse still, I was no mechanic. I had only changed a tire once in my life, and it was about 5 years earlier. But...it was Christmas Eve. So over I went, hoping not to scare the old guy, and offered my services, such as they were. He accepted, and slowly made his way back into the car to wait as I changed the tire. When I was done, I gave him a thumbs-up and started to walk back across the street. He rolled down his window and shouted out something that has stuck with me ever since: "Thanks, son. The Lord has blessed us both tonight." How true - such a simple thing, but the essence of this night - to love the Lord and love each other. A flat tire had provided me the opportunity to do both.
I hope that this season brings you much joy and that, perhaps, you found something special at The Afternoon! I also hope that you have had the opportunity to "change a tire," and thereby to re-discover that which is truly magical about this time.