It was a snowy Christmas Eve. Inside the warm house, the Christmas tree was cheerfully ablaze with lights and surrounded by dozens of presents.

‘Not me,” he snapped. “I don’t believe all that religion garbage.”

For many years the man’s wife had been trying to tell him about Jesus Christ and the salvation he offers. How God’s Son had become a human being in order to show us the way to heaven.

“Nonsense,” the man always said.

The family left for church and the man was all alone in his cozy country home. He glanced out the window at the cold snowy scene outside. He turned to warm himself by the fire.

“The fools,” he thought. “They’ll freeze for sure!” The man put on his hat and coat and opened the door. A blast of wintery air sent a shiver through his body.

“Come here cats! Come inside where there’s warmth and food. You’ll die out here.” But the cats ran away, frightened by the stranger at the door.

He walked outside. “Come back! Don’t be afraid, I want to save you.”

But the cats were gone. It was too late.

“Well, I did everything I could for them,” the man muttered to himself. “What more could I do? I’d have to become a cat myself in order to reach them and save them. If I became a cat, I could tell them and show them. They would have to believe me then unless they were fools.”

Just as he reached the door, the church bells rang in the distance. The man paused for a second and listened. Then he went in by the fire, got down on his knees, and wept.

And that is what the Christmas story is all about. The Creator of the universe loved us so much that he came to earth to show us how to be saved.