On a cold Christmas Eve in 1952, when Korea was in the throes of civil war, one young woman struggled along a village street, obviously soon to deliver a child. She pleaded with passersby, "Help me! Please ... my baby!" No one paid any attention to her.
She had heard of a missionary who lived in a neighboring village who might help her. Hurriedly, she began walking to that village. But the night was so cold. Snow began to fall. Realizing that her time was near to deliver her baby, she took shelter under a bridge. There, alone, her baby was born on Christmas Eve.
Worried about her newborn son, she took off her own clothes, wrapped them around the baby, and held him close in the warm circle of her arms. On Christmas day, the missionary braved the new snow to deliver Christmas packages. As he walked along, he heard the cry of a baby. He followed the sound to a bridge. Under it, he found a young mother frozen to death, still clutching her crying newborn son. The missionary tenderly lifted the baby out of her arms.
When the baby was ten years old, his now adoptive father told him the story of his mother's death on Christmas Eve. The young boy cried, realizing the sacrifice his mother had made for him.
The next morning, the missionary rose early to find the young boy's bed empty. Seeing a fresh set of small footprints in the snow outside, he bundled up warmly in a winter coat and followed the trail. It led back to the bridge where the young mother had died.
As the missionary approached the bridge, he stopped, stunned. Kneeling in the snow was his son, naked and shivering uncontrollably. Moving closer, he heard the boy say through chattering teeth: "Mother, were you this cold for me?"
As we picture our Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross, we ask, "Lord, did you suffer that much for me?" The answer, of course, is a resounding "yes."
God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8
