A young pregnant woman and her husband were on the run from their country. The Government was trying to kill them.
The young woman was about to give birth. With no money to rent a room they begged to stay at a pub. It was full of drunkards, laughing and shouting. But the baby was close to arriving. The water was breaking. It was the young couple’s last chance. They had no choice.
But the barman told them “No room here.”
But they begged and begged. They begged for shelter. They pleaded for refuge.
“My wife will give birth any minute,” the man said.
The bar tender was struck with compassion. How could he throw a pregnant girl out in the cold. She only looked about 17.
“Here,” he said. “It’s the key to the barn on the farm, next door.”
So they rushed to the barn and a baby boy was born kicking and crying amid the cows, the sheep and the squabble of the chickens. It was chaos.
There were no blankets to keep the baby warm, so the young mother wrapped him in rags.
There was nowhere for the baby to sleep, so her young husband grabbed some hay, stuffed it into the ‘manger’ which was the long wooden box the cows ate from.
And so the young family were safe. Thanks to the barman.
And today, on our European borders, we are also turning away young pregnant mothers, desperate fathers, letting them freeze in the cold – families on the run from a government trying to kill them.
Merry Christmas.
So let’s thank God for that barman – the unsung hero. Without him there might not have been a Christmas. Baby Jesus may have died in the cold.
Click here for how to donate to the Syrian Refugee Crisis appeal.
Filed under: Grace
