SEASONAL...A Christmas Story from 40 years ago

mod71alaska · Post by **mod71alaska** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:39 pm

Forty years ago today I spent Christmas at a leper colony in northern Thailand. The leper colony was on an island and there was a wooden covered bridge to cross over for access. Arched across the entrance to that bridge greeting anyone coming onto the island were the words, "A Merry Christmas." Those words greeted me that Christmas Eve 40 years ago. Still, in my heart I was deeply missing Christmas that year. My family was thousands of miles away; my student friends were hundreds of miles away in Bangkok. That Christmas Eve day at the leper colony I saw a boy my own age have his grotesquely diseased feet amputated without any anesthesia because he already had no feeling in them. It was almost more than I could bear to see. I was taken around the island colony and I saw adults doing crafts with only nubbins protruding from their hands because leprosy had taken their fingers; I saw old people walking on their knees or short stumps because leprosy had taken their legs. I saw tiny, tiny one room homes that were immaculate inside, and from which always came friendly waves and smiles. Truly something was different on this island. I did not understand it, though. That evening there was a Christmas Eve service, which I attended and enjoyed but did not entirely understand because of the cultural and language differences. On Christmas morning it was time for me to return to Bangkok. I felt unsettled...lost, and it was Christmas. I walked toward the covered bridge that would take me off the leper colony island that Christmas morning, and I looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. There right in front of me on that covered bridge, but this time on the inside as I was leaving, were the words: "A Merry Christmas." Those words on the inside suddenly meant something entirely different than the same words of greeting I had seen on the other side of that covered bridge when I first came onto the island. I was leaving the leper colony. I was going back into the world and those words were wishing me, who seemingly had everything, A Merry Christmas! The people on that island, who were riddled with the most horrible of diseases...the least among us in Jesus' time and in Thailand...the world's outcasts but who God loves as His Children...were wishing me...ME..."A Merry Christmas!" Wow! I was Blessed beyond words! My heart overflowed with joy! I had found Christmas...the Gift that is Christmas...after all.

I have not met any of you in person, but I feel I have many friends here. I want to wish you all "A Merry Christmas!"

old goat · Post by **old goat** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 5:53 pm

...Thanks for sharing that experence!
...And...A MERRY CHRISTMAS to you also.

...old goat

WinM71 · Post by **WinM71** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:50 pm

A very Merry Christmas to you too Victor!

Sixgun · Post by **Sixgun** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 7:02 pm

Copy that Mr. 71. And the same to you and yours. Those people you saw knew the true meaning of life better than we do. Here, everyone is in competition, (for what, I don't know) and the only thing we are concerned with is materialistic in nature. I, for one, am mighty guilty of that. This is America, capitalism at its finest.--------Sixgun

canonsix · Post by **canonsix** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:33 pm

Than you Sir, and all the best to you and yours. Doug

crs · Post by **crs** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 10:50 pm

Good to hear from you, Victor - Merry Christmas.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 11:57 pm

Yes, very good to see your post Victor - one of the Christmas presents I had hoped for! Thank you for sharing that story. Merry Christmas my friend!!!