The Christmas Strangers

It was Christmas Eve. The wind was harsh and cold and it was raining what seemed like for days. The Tanner family was always a close family. They were a fairly small family, father, mother and two small children. The economy was bad and was putting a strain on everyone. People were having hours at work reduced, others were getting pay cuts and many more were losing their jobs all together. It was a hard bearing on the Tanner family, for Mrs. Tanner did what she could to care for the children, one boy and one girl, the best she could with what she had. Mr. Tanner was a hard working man who spent everyday working his hands to the bone out in the fields to provide for his family and his nights he spent at home with Mrs. Tanner and the kids, cuddled up in the family room, watching television, playing games, or just merely talking about anything and everything. All in all, the Tanners were one big happy family.

One thing that the Tanners strongly believed in was serving the Lord. Everything they did, they did in his honor. They taught their children values and moral and kept a bible believing home. Their children were taught to be thankful for everything they received, as well as unanswered prayers, for you see unanswered prayers are a sign that the Lord has something far better in mind for you. The Tanner children never passed up an opportunity to witness to their friends and family. Their home had a bible in every room and they always keep extras to give to those who were less fortunate to own one. The Tanners did not have much in the way of money or material things. What they did have was a whole lot of love and the Lord on their side.

Christmas was always the Tanners favorite time of year because they had another opportunity to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Every year they would have the children go through their clothing, toys, and books and pick out the things that they no longer need or want. The children clean up all the items they chose and they would wrap each item individually. Mrs. Tanner would bake batches of cookies and crochet hats and mittens. Mr. Tanner would go through the cupboards and pick some canned goods that someone else could use. The Tanner family would come together to make Christmas baskets to donate to some of the local families whom were less fortunate than themselves. They really enjoyed this and spend all year preparing just for this time to come.

One day, just before Christmas, Mr. Tanners job laid him off due to the economy and the family was left with no income. It was hard for Mr. Tanner to find work and eventually they fell behind on their bills. Soon the Tanners were evicted and the family van became their new home. The Tanners had many people that loved them but because of their pride, did not want to burden anyone. The Tanners decided to wait until after the holidays to tell their friends and family. They found a local shelter who agreed to put the family up as long as they could but their were many waiting to stay there. When the shelter was full and the Tanners had stayed their time allowed, they decided to move on so that the shelter would have more room for others.

The Tanners kept their head high and their hearts full. They never lost faith that the Lord was with them all the way but were slowly falling into depression with the thought of their children being in the cold on Christmas with nothing in their belly and not even a Christmas tree to sit around. With tears is their eyes and a heavy weight on their shoulders, they still continued to pray.

It was Christmas Eve and the Tanners decided to go for a drive down town to see all the light displays, watch the carolers sing Christmas tunes, and just pass the time. It was getting late and the children had already fallen asleep. Mr. Tanner was just about to pull over when he saw a young couple walking down the highway in the cold and although they never pick up strangers, they knew that this couple was in a dire need for warmth. He pulled over and discovered that the couple had been walking for days and was still nearly sixty miles away from their destination.

Mr. and Mrs. Tanner spent over an hour learning interesting things about this couple. The young couple were just recently married and had been together since childhood. They both attended church but had admitted that they had not yet accepted Christ into their heart. They hoped to have children one day when they were older. They had just bought their first house and were well off for a couple their age. They already owned a chain of restaurants in their county and operated a food pantry for the less fortunate. The Tanners were wandering why they were walking but did not bother to ask. Once they reached their destination, the Tanners were invited in to spend the night in comfort for it was the least the young couple could do in return of the kindness they had just received from the Tanners.

The next morning was Christmas and all you could hear were the sounds of two excited children shouting and laughing, going on and on about how Santa came to see them. Mr. and Mrs. Tanner were puzzled by this and went into the family room where the children were playing. Entering the room was the young couple who explained that one day when they have children they hope that their children will always be as happy as the Tanner children were. This made Mr. and Mrs. Tanner forever grateful and they spent the entire Christmas morning with the young couple just like they had always known them. Mr. Tanner sat down with the young couple and they talked for hours about the bible, and how they could be saved by accepting the Lord into their hearts and admit they are sinners, believe that Jesus is Gods son and confess their sins. The young couple were saved that morning and they turned their lives over to the Lord.

Later that day, the Tanners thanked the young couple and they exchanged information and agreed to keep in touch with one another every year. They traveled back to their home town and spoke to everyone of their journey and praised God for giving them the opportunity to be a witness for him. This was by far the best Christmas ever. It did not matter if they were homeless for the Lord provided them a warm place to rest their head, food to nourish their bodies, and the pleasure to meet two very nice and loving people.

Three months went by and the Tanners received a letter from the address of the young couple who shared their home with them months earlier. It was a sad letter for it was from a family member of the young couple who had learned about the Tanners and was contacting them on the young couples behalf. Just two months after the Tanners blessed Christmas with this young couple, the couple was crossing a busy street when a car who did not see them hit them, killing them both. The letter also included a date and time to meet with the young couples accountant to discuss the enclosed will.

The will stated that the young couples family was well off and does not want for anything. The young couple decided that since the Tanner family was so nice enough to visit with them and witness to them, they would return the favor by going out and spreading the word to others. The Tanners learned that they were in the will. As a matter of fact, they were the only ones in the will. The couple had left them their home, their two cars, all of their restaurant's, their food pantry and their entire estate. The most important thing they left them was their bibles, each one with notes, highlights, and bookmarks. In the back of each one, it read "God gave us two hand, one to take and one to receive." May God Bless Everyone. Amen!