I love nativity scenes. I love what they represent – love, life, liberty, hope. Remember when most every town, even very small towns across America, had nativity scenes in their town squares at Christmastime? What happened?

Did you happen to notice that with all the fierce opposition against having a little nativity scene in a town square, there sure as heck isn’t a smidgen of resistance from any sector concerning the use of that celebration – the birth of Jesus Christ – to rake in gazillions of dollars?

Yeah, I know we can’t have any religious symbols in schools, courthouses and other government buildings. But let’s see now – hmm – government does receive billions in taxes from the sale of Christmas items of every description, doesn’t it? Seems to me that taking money from any expression or activity connected with any religious group, while banning that organization or any expression of that organization from its buildings and grounds, is a gross hypocrisy, isn’t it?

Seems that if Christmas, or any expression thereof, is banned from any facility or aspect of government, shouldn’t all Christmas stuff be completely free of government taxes? Far-fetched? Not really, but that won’t be changed – at least not until the embodiment of all that is good, represented by that tiny newborn baby in the manger, returns as promised. Far-fetched? Yes, to some, but no, not to a great many across this land!

How many shopping days ’til Christmas? Did ya get any cuts and bruises or fender-benders in the mad stampede to gobble up the special bargain buys on Black Friday? Christmas shopping sure ain’t what it used to be! But “the joyous season” still brings warm, wonderful feelings to many, mostly because they have fond memories of Christmas past.

But the present circumstances of some folks are so dismal and hopeless that Christmas memories just deepen their despair. It’s been said that at Christmastime, half the world becomes suicidal. If so, we need to pray that in our darkest Christmases we are all embraced and filled with that love-gift that transcends the material world and is what Christmas is supposed to be celebrating.

But here’s a nice, rather evocative little story that’s been around for a few years. No one knows who wrote it, but it seems appropriate at Christmastime: The pastor of a store-front church called Almighty God Tabernacle was working late one Saturday evening and decided to call his wife before he left for home.

It was about 10 p.m., but his wife didn’t answer the phone. The pastor let it ring many times. He thought it was odd that she didn’t answer, but decided to wrap up a few things and try again in a few minutes. When he tried again, she answered right away. He asked her why she hadn’t answered before and she said that it hadn’t rung at their house. They brushed it off as a fluke and went on their merry way.

The following Monday, the pastor received a call at the church office on the phone that he’d used that Saturday night. The man that he spoke with wanted to know why he’d called on Saturday night. The pastor couldn’t figure out what the guy was talking about. Then the guy said, “It rang and rang, but I didn’t answer.” The pastor remembered the mishap and apologized for disturbing him, explaining that he’d intended to call his wife.

The man said, “That’s OK, let me tell you my story.

“You see, I was planning to commit suicide on Saturday night, but before I did, I prayed, ’God, if you’re there and you don’t want me to do this, give me a sign now.’ At that point my phone started to ring. I looked at the caller ID, and it said, ‘Almighty God.’ I was afraid to answer.”

The man who was going to commit suicide is now meeting regularly with the pastor of Almighty God Tabernacle.

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