Merry Christmas! One of the things I love about Christmas is the routine. At Bethel we have two big, annual events that tell us Christmas is here, the Christmas Cantata and our Candlelight Christmas Eve Communion Service. Our Cantata will be on December 22 during our Worship Service and our Christmas Eve Service will begin at 5:30 pm. Both of these special services draw us together as a community of faith and, for me, they provide a comforting routine that rekindles special memories and offers fresh hope for the future. We also have family routines built around Christmas. Every Christmas morning all of our family gathers at my parents’ for breakfast. On Christmas 1998 this routine was broken. That year had been a particularly tough year because my father in law passed away in May. The plan for the day was for us to pick up my mother in law, affectionately known as “Mama Dot,” and drive to my parents’. The weather was nasty. It was cold and there were traces of ice on the road. We picked up Mama Dot and less than two miles down the road we hit a patch of ice. Our car did a slow motion slide into a ditch and flipped onto its side. With the car resting on its side, we began to assess the damage. Everyone was fine except Mama Dot. She had not worn her seatbelt and she fell to the other side of the car. She had a severe cut on her head. Long story short, Med Flight was called and she spent several days at MCV, but she recovered just fine, thank God! There was at least one act of grace that day. While we were waiting on Med Flight there was a gentleman who stopped to help. My nearly three year old daughter, Elizabeth, was obviously shaken up by the accident and she was cold. This nice gentleman allowed Elizabeth to sit in his truck to keep warm. I didn’t know the gentleman, but he mentioned that he lived about a mile from us on another road. Fast forward

26 years later to a lovely day this past May. My wife, Karen, and I went walking and saw a man struggling to get his lawnmower out of the ditch. It rained the night before and his lawnmower was stuck. So we stopped and I helped him pull the lawnmower out of the ditch. He thanked me and we went on our way. As we walked further it hit me; that was the man that allowed Elizabeth to sit in his truck 26 years prior.

I said to Karen, “Isn’t that something! All those years ago, he sort of helped us out of a ditch and then here we are doing the same.” It’s like that act of grace came full circle. That stuck with me. A few weeks later, during my sabbatical I visited a local church and guess who we saw in worship? Yep, it was the same gentleman! I told him the story of how he helped us years ago on Christmas and how I thought it was a wonderful, divine appointment we could offer him some assistance getting him out of a ditch. We both marveled at the situation. Christmas is a time when we affirm one of the great truths of our faith, that Christ is Emanuel, which means “God with us.” That day in 1998 Christ was “Emanuel” for us through the kindness of a neighbor. I think we were “Emanuel” for him as well. I suspect there are plenty of folks in our community that need some help getting out of their own ditches of life. I pray God will give us eyes to see, ears to listen and a heart to understand how we might be Emanuel to others. When that happens, every day can be Christmas Day. May God not only bless our days, but may He redeem all of our days, even the worst days, like Christmas Day 1998 for me. Have a very Merry Christmas and I’m looking

forward to seeing you at our special Christmas Worship Services. Once again, Merry Christmas and may the abundance of God’s blessings flow into your lives this New Year. May God bless you and may God bless Bethel Baptist Church. Amen!

With love….Todd