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Our Weekly Devotional

A Baker's Dozen Christmas Stories

Wednesday, December 19, 2012 • Randy Kilgore • General
Let your mood determine the order you read these Christmas tales. Merry Christmas!

Our Christmas devotionals are almost always among the top 10 most-opened, most-read and most-shared pieces of writing we do here at Madetomatter. We add one original Christmas story each year, and this year's new piece will appear this Monday, December 24.

This year we're giving you an index to the tales, along with brief lead-ins to help you pick which piece you'd like to read, and the order you want to read them. We're even categorizing them for you in case you need "warm and fuzzy" over "serious". We hope these writings bring you closer to Jesus, and closer to the loved ones around you. We hope, too, that you are moved to reach out to people who need Jesus by letting them see the evidence of His love in you. Let this be the season, and let it be the year when we move with purpose, intentionally seeing every person God places in our path as He sees them. 

 
"Warm the Heart" Category, whereby we see others discovering the hidden joys of knowing Jesus
 
"Christmas by the Mississippi" As barges plied the river this December night, they blinked their Christmas lights in hopes some among the residents of the retirement home would appreciate the gesture, one man doubted God could love him more than the sum of his sins. I watched in wonder as God's own words accomplished what my words never could...and one more soul found "peace on earth."
 
"I have come to help..."  When this New York Times reporter wrote about suffering, he never imagined a future President was listening!
 
"A Moment in Bethlehem"  About a time when an older worker discovered just how much her gruff and grumbly teddy bears---er, coworkers---loved her...
 
"Ten-Minute Christian"  Dietrich Bonhoeffer teaches, among many other truths, that hospitality is a vital function in faith and society.  Meanwhile, a tiny town in Nebraska was proving his point, changing lives in ten-minute stops.  Two weeks after Pearl Harbor was attacked, this group of mostly women started serving every soldier on every train passing through North Platte, Nebraska, which because of it's central location, included just about every soldier going to Europe (Eastbound) or the Pacific (Westbound)...and despite rationed supplies and 12 hour days, they never stopped...
 
"The Greatest Gift"  Sometimes fathers disappoint their sons; and sometimes sons disappoint their fathers.  But not on this day: On a subway car in Boston, one father made sure one son never doubted again just how much he was loved...and those of us who (over)heard will never forget.
 
"A Cracker Barrel Christmas"  What would you do if you found $97,000 in cash and nobody knew? Especially at Christmas; especially if you could really use the money? Well, here's what one Christian woman did...
 
"Christmas Echoes"  Standing in a moonlit field in late November, I learn that sometimes it's better if I just let God have the moment.
 
 
"Work to Do" Category---or, the How to "Go Tell it on the Mountain" this Christmas season 
 
Have You Seen the Baby?  Who were you before the manger? How did it change you?
 
"The Other Woman of Bethlehem"  Long before Mary, another woman made her mark in "O Little Town of..."
 
"The Sheep are Asleep"  When some shepherds met the Shepherd...will you go, too?
 
"And the Heavenly Host Chuckled"  Kids say the craziest---and sometimes the most poignant---things.  Then there's 'Tina'...
 
 
Christmas Fiction category
 
One Last Christmas  Set in WWII, a home church hears a Christmas letter written from the front lines.
 
A Light-House Christmas  A not-so-short Christmas story from the 1890's seashore.
 
Merry Christmas!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tags: Christmas

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