My most memorable Christmas Eve was spent in a ditch beside Ohio State Route 125 in the Shawnee Forest.  The time was in the late 1970’s or perhaps 1980.  I was on my way with my wife and three small children to a Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve.  The weather had been very warm earlier in the day, but by the time we got on the road, the temperatures had plummeted, and the roads were icing over.

125 through the Shawnee Forest was our shortest route—our shortest route to a ditch!  There was one place in particular that involved a slight curve and a small hill.  That was sufficient!  We were going so slowly that neither we nor the car were hurt.  However, there was no way I could push our car out of the ditch.  We (along with lots of other people) weren’t going to be going anywhere for a while.  All we could do was wait for a tow truck to come and pull us out.

After a bit, a man came back from walking about a mile to the Shawnee State Park lodge to call for a tow truck.  His news was not good.  “It will be at least three hours before anyone can get to us,” he informed us.

Three hours!  Our extended family was opening our gifts on Christmas Eve, and we weren’t going to make it.

We sat in our car, running the engine to keep warm.  Eventually, several people began getting out of the cars and chatting with other folks.  “Where were you headed for?” was the most common question.  A fairly large group gathered.

Eventually, someone had an interesting idea.  I would like to take credit, but if my memory serves me correctly, it was someone else.

“Hey!” somebody said.  “If we all pushed, we could probably get everyone back on the road again!  Once we’ve gotten someone up on the level spot at the top of this little hill, they can come back and help push others out of the ditch and up the hill.”

I was initially skeptical, but I thought, why not try?

And it ended up being easier than I had thought.  There were a lot of us out pushing.  Despite the slippery conditions, I think we had enough people to have picked up the vehicles and to have lifted them onto the road.  Before many minutes had passed, we were past this tricky spot, and on our way.

I believe (at least, in my better moments) that God came to earth in His Son, Jesus Christ, about two-thousand years ago.  I believe that he came to push us (or lift us?) out of the ditch we had gotten ourselves.  It’s so much easier to get into a ditch, than it is to get out of it, isn’t it?

But I also believe that God has called us in Christ to help one another to get out of our ditches.

As an addict, I have had a lot of friends who have helped me to get back on the road.  Twelve-step friends, pastors, other believers, family members, and above all my wife, have come back to where I was stuck.  They refused to leave me in the ditch.

And now, God has called me to believe in God’s rescue mission in Christ, and to participate in it, as much as I can.

The illusion is that the Christmas Season is “. . . the most wonderful time of the year.” The reality is rather different.  Some of you may feel very much ditched.  Perhaps this blog may give you the courage to believe that Someone and some ones have your back and your bumper, and that there is a road forward for you after all.