A Broken Tail Light Leads the Way to the Child

Christmas Star

Carol Forsloff--It was dark, cold; and the traffic on the highways offered no respite for a weary young couple who hoped to find a motel room before the birth of their first child. Every place they stopped, they were turned away; and it seemed there would be no place for them on a winter's night like this.

He had lost his job months ago. The money was gone. Then they lost their home. Unable to pay their taxes, they were forced into debt as they used the last of their savings to pay the bills.

It was an old car, in need of repairs, and long past its usefulness for long drives. It offered some shelter on this cold winter's night as the darkness fell on the new fallen snow. The windshield blurred from the frosted flakes that clung to the car windows, adding to the stress the young man felt as he hurried to find a place to sleep until the morning when they could look for a hospital for the wife to give birth.

But hospitals needed money; and the cost of a motel stay, even for a short time, was likely to take most of the funds they had. Social welfare agencies in their town had so many people out of work and in need that it was difficult to get financial help there on an emergency basis. When they could no longer pay rent, after losing their home, they huddled on the streets because the homeless shelters had filled to capacity.

It was then they decided to drive near a city where there might be more resources than had been available in their hometown.

The siren punched through the young man's thoughts. “Enough,” he thought. “What's next? What did I do? There is so little time as it is to get a place to stay, and now the police are asking me to stop.”

The officer approached the car, flashlight in hand, face grim, sternly asking for a driver's license. “Did you know you have a broken tail light back there? And you have been swerving all over the road? Have you been drinking?”

“My wife is pregnant, officer, “ the young man responded. “We are both so tired, and I could not see the road well. We haven't been able to find a motel room either to get some rest.”

The policeman looked at the couple, the wife's frame clearly showing the husband's story was true.

“Let's get you off the road first,” the officer said. “Your car is not safe to drive on a night like this especially. There is a little bed and breakfast place down the road. I don't know if they have any rooms available, but you can try. It isn't but a few miles at that turn off about a mile away. Follow me.”

“No room in this inn,” the manager told the young couple, as the policeman stood by, wondering what other place might have a room while knowing there was little chance to find one this late at night.

“Please,” the young man pleaded. “We just need one night. We don't need much, just a place to sleep now because my wife is so tired. She has been patient, but I worry because she is pregnant too.”

“I have this converted garage in the back next to the house.” the manager saw the desperate look on the faces in front of him, then continued, “I don't rent it out much. Sometimes if people bring pets along, we put them in there. It is a bit dirty since no one has been in there for awhile, and the bed ain't much.  I can't charge you for it under the circumstances,”

“It will have to do.”The policeman and the young couple were all relieved that at least there was a place to get rest and then look for medical help in the morning.  And it was not going to cost anything either, which would leave a little money for tomorrow's meals.

The room was large enough for the few possessions they had, a blanket, pillow and warmth offered hope that the morning would bring them what they needed so their baby would be born safely.

Besides that's what God had promised, when the expectant mother had prayed and asked why she was having a baby now when there was so little money and no home anymore. God had told her the baby would be somebody special who would bring new hope to the world. But when she had told the folks in her town about it, they just laughed and told her every mother thinks her baby is special, even though she knew somehow this was different.

The pains began, as she lay on the thin, worn mattress. The baby was coming. The lights were out in the house in front, as the young man got help with the delivery from the manager's wife who said she had given birth herself at home when one of her babies was born early, and they could not get her to a doctor in time.

The stars had never shown brighter, the moon casting light through the windows to shine on the child born in that back room one night in December. The mother knew in her heart God's promise was being fulfilled. Footprints in the snow to the door of their room came from others who knew of it too. 

A broken tail light had led the way.