Home for Christmas

Yes, I will be home for Christmas. Home is the place where you want to be when you're everyplace else. Hopefully, home is the place where you are safe and accepted. In the winter it's warm, in the summer, it's cool. It is a shelter from the outside world--some experts have even called it a "cocoon."

Earlier this month I visited a Gypsy village in northwestern Romania. I am not sure it even has a name. About eleven families live here on the outskirts of a rurual Romanian village. Here is a picture of one of the nicer "homes." The path through this village is muddy. Pigs, ducks, chickens and dogs roam free. Children often do not have coats or shoes. These small two-room dwellings have up to 13 or more people living there. This meager shelter is all they have. A wood fire heats their space. It is hard to believe that people today still live in such conditions.

Being "home" for Christmas isn't always such a great thing. I don't know what I individually can do about such tragedies as this. Our team delivered Christmas gifts and warm socks to the children. That might help a very little bit. But at the end of the week, I could go home to lavish comfort well beyond what this village may ever experience.

What can I do? I can try to do my best to contribute whatever I can to those who are the "least of these." I can  be thankful to be home for Christmas and be grateful for everything that I have.

God bless us everyone!