Ben Irwin 
At Christmas, we tell the story of a Middle Eastern refugee who was born in a stable, whose family was then driven from their home by violence.
But we don’t just tell this story. We are seeing it play out again before our eyes.
On the outskirts of Mosul the other day, in a town just liberated from ISIS, we met thousands of Middle Eastern refugees… and we met them in a stable.
A place meant to shelter animals has once again become the kind of place where people driven from their homes now live.
Those who revere Jesus believe that love showed up in a stable two thousand years ago. This Christmas, your love showed up in a stable, too.
This isn’t where kids are supposed to be born. This isn’t where kids are supposed to live. But this is where we found thousands of refugees—waiting for something to eat, waiting for someone to show up.
And this Christmas, you did.
This is the hope we all have—that the world can be remade, that violence can be unmade through tangible acts of preemptive love. Laying down our lives for “the other.” Stepping out in love.
That’s the Christmas story we love. That’s the Christmas story that compels us to go into the hard places to serve those who need it most.
Thank you for going to these hard places with us. May your Christmas be full of love and joy and peace.
