Opinions

It’s the New Year and everyone is celebrating a fresh start and making resolutions. However, simply wishing that our lives would change for the better, is nothing more than a fantasy or whim that will not just magically happen. It is said that over eighty percent of resolutions fail within the first month. Why? We must develop a strong vision of what we desire to be and vow that nothing will keep us from accomplishing our goals. Asking God to help us is the key as He also wants the best for us.

The author of this story is unknown and it has been told by many people throughout the years. The gentleman to whom I’m going to introduce was not a scrooge, but a kind, decent man and generous to his family and upright in his dealings with other people. He just could not understand how or why Jesus came to earth to save us from our sin. It did not make sense and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. “I’m truly sorry to distress you,” he told his wife, “but I’m not going with you and the kids to church this Christmas Eve.” He went on to say, he would feel like a hypocrite and this year he would much rather stay home. He would just wait up and read until they returned. And so, he stayed behind as the family went to the candlelight service.

The children were in the pew in front of me. We had not arrived early enough at my sister’s church for the Christmas Eve service to secure a seat in the back, so we were in the fourth row. The first row is never used by anyone; the second row is only for people who arrive impossibly late. The third row is, for all intents and purposes, the front row, and that’s where these two wild-looking children were.