Many people realize that Jesus Christ was not born anywhere near December 25 and that Christmas is rooted in ancient paganism, but will still proclaim that Jesus is “the reason for the season.” Is this true? Who is really being celebrated on December 25? Why the evergreen tree? And most importantly, is Jesus Christ really pleased?

When I was a child in the 1950s, I remember the shocked look on my mother's face when she heard the news of a neighorhood couple who were getting a divorce. Divorce wasn't so common back then—at least not in the rural Midwest where we lived. And a man and woman didn't live together unless they were married, or if they did, they were shamed and shunned.

No matter who we are, no matter how or where we live, no matter our station in life, there comes a time when we all need somebody to “stand by us.” To stand by us and hold us up as we, too, need to be there to hold others up. In essence, to stand in the gap wherever the “wall” of rightful faith and living is breached.

Everybody is a victim of a "divide and conquer" strategy. Often, we do not realize it because we are too close to the emotion and postured wrangling of charges and counter charges, of arguments and personal attacks. This can take place in a home, a church, corporation or business, or on a national or international scale. What can we do?

Sitting here in the midst of the Tucson, Arizona aftermath, and the near-frantic journalistic analysis of every political aspect of this tragedy of human suffering, it is getting difficult to remember just what did happen. The shouts of accusations of what really caused it, for the most part, have diminished the incredible acts of bravery that took place, as human beings reached out to help human beings, regardless of their own lives.