🎄 THE CHRISTMAS I DIDN’T DESERVE

A Devotional for The66Voice

There’s flooding up north this year. Families displaced. Homes ruined. Christmas trees floating down streets like lost memories.

And it reminds me — not everyone gets the picture‑perfect Christmas the commercials promise. Some years, the lights don’t twinkle. Some years, the only “tree” you see is the one you pass out under. Ask me how I know.

I used to think Christmas was for other people. The clean ones. The sober ones. The ones who didn’t wake up wondering where they were or how they got there.

But grace has a funny way of showing up in the places you least expect.

🌟 A Christmas Eve I’ll Never Forget

I was an old bum back then — drinking, drifting, doing whatever I could to stay numb. Christmas Eve rolled around, and I wandered over to my parents’ house. They weren’t home. So I did what I always did: Went around back, lit up a joint, and laid down in the yard like it was my personal campground.

Next thing I knew, I was being kicked awake. A voice saying, “Police. You okay? Get up.” Not exactly the Christmas angel I was hoping for.

They searched me, found the rest of the joint, and just like that — 🎶 Sleigh bells, sleigh bells, take me to the big house… 🎶 I got my Christmas ride in the back of a police car.

Later I found out the truth: My mom had gone out to take the trash and saw a stranger lying in her yard. She called the police — and honestly, I can’t blame her. Back then, you didn’t see people sleeping on the streets like you do now. Homelessness wasn’t visible unless you drove through downtown Jacksonville on the way to Heckscher Drive to go fishing.

I wasn’t a son that night. I was a shadow. A stranger. A warning sign.

And yet… God didn’t throw me away.

✨ GRACE IN A BACKYARD

I didn’t deserve to live this long. I didn’t deserve another Christmas. I didn’t deserve mercy, or sobriety, or a second chance, or a future.

But grace doesn’t check your résumé. Grace doesn’t ask if you’ve earned it. Grace doesn’t wait for you to clean up first.

Grace walks into backyards. Grace sits in jail cells. Grace finds you when you’re too drunk to find yourself. Grace whispers, “You’re not done yet.”

And here I am — Another Christmas. Another breath. Another sunrise I never thought I’d see.

Not because I’m good. Not because I’m strong. Not because I deserve it.

But because God chose to let me see another Christmas. And that alone is glory.

🎁 THE REAL CHRISTMAS GIFT

Christmas isn’t about perfection. It’s about presence — His presence. The God who stepped into a messy world steps into messy lives. He doesn’t wait for the lights to be hung or the house to be clean. He comes to the broken, the tired, the addicted, the ashamed, the forgotten.

He comes to the ones who think, “This might be my last Christmas.” He comes to the ones who whisper, “I don’t deserve this.” He comes to the ones who know the truth: GRACE is the only reason we’re still here.

🙏 A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FOR THE BROKEN AND THE BLESSED

Lord, For the ones celebrating in warm homes — thank You. For the ones celebrating in shelters, hospitals, jail cells, and flooded towns — be near. For the ones who feel unworthy — remind them that grace is the gift. For the ones who never thought they’d live this long — breathe hope into their lungs. And for all of us — Let this Christmas be less about what we have and more about who came for us. Amen.