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About a
week before Christmas, the family bought a new nativity set.
When they unpacked it, they found two figures of the Baby
Jesus.
"Someone
must have packed this wrong," the mother said, counting out
the figures.
"We have
one Joseph, one Mary, three wise men, three shepherds, two
lambs, a donkey, a cow, an angel and two babies. Oh, dear! I
suppose some set down at the store is missing a Baby Jesus
because we have two."
"You two
run back down to the store and tell the manager that we have
an extra Jesus. Tell him to put a sign on the remaining
boxes, saying that if a set is missing a Baby Jesus, call
7126. "Put on your warm coats. It is freezing out there."
The
manager of the store copied down mother's message and the
next time they were in the store they saw the cardboard sign
that read, "If you are missing Baby Jesus, call 7126."
All week
long they waited for someone to call. Surely, they thought
someone was missing that important figurine. Each time the
phone rang, mother would say, "I'll bet that's about
Jesus.", but it never was. Father tried to explain there
are thousands of these scattered over the country, and the
figurine could be missing from a set in Florida or Texas or
California. Those packing mistakes happen all the time. He
suggested to just put the extra Jesus back in the box and
forget about it.
"Put Baby
Jesus back in the box! What a terrible thing to do!" said
the children.
"Surely
someone will call," mother said. "We'll just keep the two of
them together in the manger until someone calls."
When no
call had come by 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve, mother insisted
that father just run down to the store to see if there were
any sets left. "You can see them right through the window,
over on the counter," she said. "If they are all gone, I'll
know someone is bound to call tonight."
"Run down
to the store?" father thundered. "It's 15 below zero out
there!"
"Oh,
Daddy, we'll go with you," Tommy and Mary began to put on
their coats. Father gave a long sigh and headed for the
front closet.
"I can't
believe I'm doing this," he muttered.
Tommy and
Mary ran ahead as father reluctantly walked out into the
cold. Mary got to the store first and pressed her nose up to
the store window.
"They're
all gone, Daddy," she shouted. "Every set must be sold."
"Hooray"
Tommy said. "The mystery will now be solved tonight!"
Father
heard the news still a half block away and immediately
turned on his heel and headed back home.
When they
got back into the house, they noticed that mother was gone
and so was the extra Baby Jesus figurine.
"Someone
must have called and she went out to deliver the figurine,"
my father reasoned, pulling off his boots.
"You kids
get ready for bed while I wrap mother's present."
Then the
phone rang. Father yelled "answer the phone and tell 'em we
found a home for Jesus." But it was mother calling with
instructions for us to come to 205 Chestnut Street
immediately, and bring three blankets, a box of cookies and
some milk.
"Now what
has she gotten us into?" my father groaned as we bundled up
again. "205 Chestnut. Why that's across town. Wrap that milk
up good in the blankets or it will turn to ice before we get
there. Why can't we all just get on with Christmas? It's
probably 20 below out there now. And the wind is picking
up. Of all the crazy things to do on a night like this!"
When they
got to the house at 205 Chestnut Street, it was the darkest
one on the block. Only one tiny light burned in the living
room and, the moment we set foot on the porch steps, my
mother opened the door and shouted, "They're here, Oh thank
God, you got here, Ray! You kids take those blankets into
the living room and wrap up the little ones on the couch.
I'll take
the milk and cookies."
"Would you
mind telling me what is going on, Ethel?" my father asked.
"We have
just walked through below zero weather with the wind in our
faces all the way."
"Never
mind all that now," my mother interrupted. "There is no heat
in this house and this young mother is so upset she doesn't
know what to do. Her husband walked out on her and those
poor little children will have a very bleak Christmas, so
don't you complain. I told her you could fix that oil
furnace in a jiffy."
My mother
strode off to the kitchen to warm the milk while my brother
and I wrapped up the five little children who were huddled
together on the couch. The children's mother explained to my
father that her husband had run off, taking bedding,
clothing, and almost every piece of furniture, but she had
been doing all right until the furnace broke down.
"I been
doin' washin' and ironin' for people and cleanin' the five
and dime," she said. "I saw your number every day there, on
those boxes on the counter. When the furnace went out, that
number kept going' through my mind... 7162... 7162." Said
on the box that if a person was missin' Jesus, they should
call you. That's how I knew you were good Christian people,
willin' to help folks. I figured that maybe you would help
me, too. So I stopped at the grocery store tonight and I
called your missus. I'm not missin' Jesus, mister, because I
sure love the Lord. But I am missin' heat. I have no money
to fix that furnace."
"Okay,
Okay" said father. "You've come to the right place. Now lets
see. You've got a little oil burner over there in the dining
room. Shouldn't be too hard to fix. Probably just a clogged
flue. I'll look it over, see what it needs."
Mother
came into the living room carrying a plate of cookies and
warm milk. As she set the cups down on the coffee table, I
noticed the figure of Baby Jesus lying in the center of the
table. It was the only sign of Christmas in the house. The
children stared with wide eyed with wonder at the plate of
cookies my mother sat before them. Father finally got the
oil burner working but said "you need more oil. I'll make a
few calls tonight and get some oil."
"Yes sir,
you came to the right place," said the woman...
On the way
home, father did not complain about the cold weather and had
barely set foot inside the door when he was on the phone.
"Ed, hey,
how are ya, Ed? Yes, Merry Christmas to you, too. Say, Ed,
we have kind of an unusual situation here. I know you've got
that pick-up truck. Do you still have some oil in that
barrel on your truck? You do?"
By this
time the rest of the family were pulling clothes out of
their closets and toys off of their shelves. It was long
after their bedtime when they were wrapping gifts. The
pickup came. On it were chairs, three lamps, blankets and
gifts. Even though it was 30 below, Father let them ride
along in the back of the truck.
No one
ever did call about the missing figure in the nativity set,
but as I grow older I realize that it wasn't a packing
mistake at all. Jesus saves, that's what He does.
Author Unknown |
