The Christmas Visit

The second year Jim was in seminary, we made the sad decision that we could not afford to travel back to be with our Ohio family for Christmas.  Jim mustered up the courage to call his mom and break the news that for the first time in our married life we would not be together over the holidays.  We all felt the sadness of us growing up and having to make sensible decisions.

At the same time we were coming to terms with our holiday plans, my father was rushed to the hospital and put in the Intensive Care Unit.  For the days before Christmas, we were on a roller coaster, wondering if Dad was going to pull through.  As soon as Jim's seminary work was complete for the semester, we traveled to New Jersey and spent hours at the hospital praying and hoping that my father would turn the corner and that he would be able to go home for Christmas, though that was not likely. 

While sitting in the hospital waiting room, Jim and I began to dream out loud.  "Wish we could go home to Ohio...we are already part way there," Jim confessed.  "I know," I said, "wouldn't it be so great to surprise them?"   We really wanted to see all our loved ones and eat Mom's roast beef, Swiss corn bake, and her homemade pumpkin pie.  We wanted to overindulge in Jim sister's assortment of handmade candies.  Jim longed to roll around with his nephew under the giant Christmas tree strung with huge red, green, yellow, and blue light bulbs.  We wished we could join his family members in serving Christmas dinner and handing out gifts to all the men that came to the Rescue Mission Jim's Dad directed.

We must have let the cat out of the bag that that was what we were thinking.  Somehow my Mom got wind of our wishes.  I guess she realized that she was not going to be home for a traditional Christmas that year and when Dad began to rally on Christmas Eve, she said, "Go to Ohio.  We'll be ok."  "Are you sure, Mom?"  "Yes, go!," she insisted.

So early in the evening, we packed up our little black dog and our suitcases and in our Dodge Dart set out to cross "the agonizing expanse" as Jim called Pennsylvania.  We drove with such joy and determination because we knew that no one expected us to pull in early on Christmas morning.  It was going to be great!!  Our adrenalin was pumping and the lack of sleep didn't seem to even enter the picture.  Driving up and down the mountains in the dark was not the easiest thing we've ever done but we did not notice because we were so wound up with excitement that we chattered away the whole ten hour trip. 

Finally at five in the morning, we pulled into "3-2-9" as we called Jim's childhood home (329 North Central Avenue).  We knew Dad would be up and so we banged on the back door until he came and unlocked the door and let us in.  Oh that astonished look of surprise on his face was worth all 500 miles we had just traveled to get home.

Once in the house, we sent Christy, our dog, upstairs to wake up Grandma.  "Christy, go get Grandma;  go on."  Christy took off running--up two flights of stairs and down the long hallway to Jim's parents' bedroom.  The next sound we heard was a delighted squeal and Jim's mom's footsteps as she raced down the stairs to see if it was true...we were really there.

Isn't this story a picture of Christmas?  Jesus so loved us that he wanted nothing more than to be with us.  He sacrificed his comforts and crossed the great expanse of time and eternity.  He entered this dark world unbeknown to most people.  But He came bringing "good news that will cause great joy for all the people."

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."  1 John 4:9