Topic: A Place Like This

In his book When Iron Gates Yield, a British missionary to Tibet, a captive of the Chinese Communists for three years, tells of an experience one December twenty-fourth. After a long, tiring day crossing a famous mountain pass and stumbling down the other side amid heavy wind, his captors brought him to a small group of houses about 4:30 that afternoon. A Tibetan landlord had swept out an upstairs room for the missionary-prisoner, who had rarely seen cleaner accommodations in a Central Asian country. After a meal, when it was already dark, he was ordered to go downstairs to give hay to the horses. He clambered down the notched tree trunk to the lower floor which was given over in the usual custom to stabling. It was pitch-black. The missionary described his feelings, "My boots squished in the manure and straw on the floor and the fetid smell of the animals was nauseating. I felt my way amongst the mules and horses, expecting to be kicked any moment. What a place, I thought. Then as I continued to grope my way in the darkness towards the hay it suddenly flashed into my mind. What's today? I thought for a moment. In the traveling, the days had become a little muddled in my mind. Then it came to me. It's Christmas Eve. I stood suddenly still in that oriental manger. To think that my Savior was born in a place like this. To think that He came all the way from heaven to some wretched, eastern stable, and what is more, to think that He came for me. How men beautify the crib and the cross, as if to hide the fact that at birth we resigned him to the stench of beasts and at death exposed him to the shame of rogues. God forgive us. I returned to the warm, clean room, which I enjoyed even as a prisoner, bowed to thankfulness and worship."

Data Source: Fredericksburg Church of Christ, 507 N. Llano St., Fredericksburg TX 78624

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