“I think this is the stop we need, Marie. At least this part of St. Louis looks familiar, but a lot older and run-down. Uncle Mark’s house is a couple of blocks away that way.” Meisias pointed and then said, “I think.”

“We would have to pick one of the coldest days of the year to come here.” Marie said as she attempted to make her baby comfortable in her body. She was three weeks overdue for her due date. They were forced onto the streets when Meisias lost his job as a cabinet maker, and their savings ran out.

It began to snow, and the wind started to increase. They each looked like snowmen, wearing layers of clothes. Not necessarily for the cold, but these clothes were the only things they managed to get from the apartment. And, other than a small bag of Marie’s medications, they had no way to carry any more.

“Mesi, we need to get there pretty soon! It feels like the baby is coming!” Marie was holding her swollen belly and grimacing with every powerful contraction.

Mesi asked Marie the question both of them were holding onto. “ Do you believe the prophecy that strange old man gave us at church that day?”

Marie looked at Mesi and smiled through the pain. “Yeah, I do. I was paying attention when he walked away. I saw a bright light, and he disappeared. Then there was the note sitting on your Bible with an old Jewish verse, Psalm 91:11: “For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” How much more evidence do we need to realize that was an angel?”

Mesi replied, “Yeah, but what about the part when he said your baby was conceived by the Holy Spirit and would save the world from their sins? I can’t help thinking that you must be carrying our Messiah.”

Mercifully they found Mesi’s house. It seemed a bit better taken care of. But there were a number of tents on the small front lawn and over the grass margin. There were also a very old RV and a tent trailer parked in the driveway and on the street.

Mesi and Marie were hoping Uncle David and Aunt Theresa would have enough room for them. Mesi knew that David, as a rabbi at the local synagogue, was a savior to many of every faith and ran a large food pantry. He was also instrumental in the process of helping the homeless find jobs and get off the streets.

Mesi and Marie made their way through the path of tents to the front door. Marie was bent over in pain. “I think the baby is coming! I can’t hold it back!” She screamed.

The door swung open, and Theresa was standing there. Immediately she recognized the situation and yelled for the other women in the house, where they were holding a prayer meeting. Marie was physically carried to a back room where Uncle David had set up a clean room for the doctors who gave their time ministering to those who came to David.

Three of the women were RNs, one of whom was a NICU nurse.

Mesi stood in the doorway, overwhelmed by the situation, when he felt David’s hand on his shoulder. “Meisias, come with me. Let them do what they are trained for. You need to fill me in on why you’re here, obviously in a desperate situation.

The men at the Bible study gathered around Mesi and helped him take off the many layers of clothes. Then sat him down in one of the stuffed chairs and shoved a cup of coffee into his hands

“Thank you, Uncle…” Mesi began to cry with relief and thanksgiving for God’s protection during their flight from Boston.

Eventually, the sound of a strong baby hollering erupted from the back room. A few minutes later, Marie came out to the living room in a wheelchair, holding a beautiful baby boy.

Everyone crowded around to see him, and David asked, “Do you have a name for him, Marie?”

Mesi had squatted next to the wheelchair. Both Mesi and Marie said, “His name is Jesus. That’s what the angel said to name him. He told us that this baby was our Messiah.”

Mesi stood up and quietly said, “I wasn’t around when Marie got pregnant. When I got home from the housing project in Florida, we were at synagogue getting ready to leave, when this old man…”

Marie interrupted, “An old man we had never seen before. He was smiling as if he had a secret he wanted to share with us. He told us what was going on. He specifically told Mesi not to question it when I began to show. He said, “This is God’s son.”

One of the men spoke up and, with an unbelieving tone, almost raised his voice and said, “Are you saying that this birth is the one prophesied in Isaiah 7?”

A knock at the door interrupted the conversation. When they opened the door, an old man, with a light bulb for a face, walked into the room and began to transform into a being made of light. He walked over to the wheelchair and knelt in front of the King of Heaven. Then he stood and said, “My name is Gabriel, and tonight to you in the city of David is born a savior who is Christ the Lord!”

Immediately, a brilliant light flooded in through the open door, and a loud chorus of many voices drowned out the silence and the darkness. The room emptied into the yard and into the street. People were running out of their homes. Every eye focused on the scene above them. The sky was filled with angels singing that Emmanuel had come. That they all should be rejoicing.

Uncle David was the first to notice something surprising. Every dog and cat in the neighborhood flooded up to the porch where Mesi, Marie, Theresa, and the NICU nurse were standing.

Then the ground began to vibrate. Not dangerously like an earthquake, it was resonating with the song the angels were singing. The Earth was rejoicing to see its future Redeemer.

The choir left as quickly as they had appeared, leaving the entire neighborhood crowding in front of David’s small home. Many of his neighbors weren’t Jewish and began asking what had just happened.

Mesi and David’s eyes met as they both realized that their lives had just changed into something no one would have imagined.

Mesi and Marie were now responsible for a baby destined to save the entire world.

Originally published at https://dereklhastings.substack.com.