I was visiting a parishioner in a nursing home on Christmas Eve and as I was leaving I caught sight of an ornament hanging on one of the many Christmas trees throughout the center. It read: "Believe in the magic of Christmas." Well I don't. I believe in the miracle of Christmas!
I believe that God is intimately involved in our lives and sometimes without controling peoples' decisions or actions, God makes a way where no way seemed to be. Such an event happened this Christmas and I want to tell you about it.
My friend LindaMay had just finished her training as an OTR truck driver (yes the 18 wheel variety) and began her first solo trip the day before Christmas. That meant her Christmas would be spent driving the interstate and camping out in her truck. I've been keeping in close contact with her and so I called her Christmas morning. She was stuck in an ice covered parking lot without any facilities wondering where she would get something to eat and more importantly how she would be able to get back on the road so as to make a timely delivery. Not yet equiped with wireless internet, I offered to call her back on Skype so that I could view weather and road conditions for her on my laptop. I advised her to sit tight until 2 p.m. when the temperature would be above freezing and warming throughout the day.
Fast forward to the late evening. I'm driving east on I-64 from my brother and sister-in-law's in Lexington, KY following my parents to their house in Winchester, KY where I planned to spend the night. I call LindaMay and she is heading west on I-64 and is 55 miles from I-75. For those who don't know Kentucky geography, I-64 and I-75 intersect in Lexington. In other words we are less than 50 miles apart traveling towards each other on the same highway at a combined speed of nearly 140 mph! She was planning to stop for the night in the Lexington area. Instead, I gave her instructions to meet me in Winchester (20 minutes east of Lexington) and she spent Christmas night at my parents. We warmed up some leftovers from our Christmas dinner which featured sauerbraten, a favorite German dish, and then her and I celebrated Christmas mass around the kitchen table with a host cut from a slice of bread and a glass of my dad's homemade wine!
There were no hope that we would be able to spend Christmas together. It never crossed our minds. Thank God for the beauty of winter ice that delayed her departure that made our rendezvous possible! Thank God for making a way on a cold winter's night for two dear friends to gather and celebrate the birth of the Only Begotten Son. Thank God for making a way on a cold winter's night for Mary and Joseph to find a place for her to deliver her child. Thank God for making a way for Christ to come down from heaven to be for us "a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord." (Luke 2:11 NSRV)
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