Oswald Golter was a missionary in northern China during the 1940's. After ten years service he was returning home. His ship stopped in India, and while waiting for a boat home he found a group of refugees living in a warehouse on the pier. Unwanted by anyone else the refugees were stranded there.
Golter went to visit them and as it was Christmastime wished them a meery Christmas and asked them what they would like for Christmas.
"We're not Christians," they said. "We don't believe in Christmas."
"I know," said the missionary, "but what do you want for Christmas?" They described some German pastries they were particularly fond of, and so Oswald Golter cashed in his ticket home, used the money to buy baskets and baskets of the pastries, took them to the refugees, and wished them a merry Christmas.
When he later told the story, a student said, "But sir, why did you do that for them? They weren't Christians. They don't even believe in Jesus."
"I know," he replied, "but I do!"
Source: Reported in James W. Moore, Standing on the Promises or Sitting on the Premises (Nashville: Dimensions for Living, 1995), pp.79-80. Moore sourced the story from Fred Craddock, Newscope Inspiration Series Tape, January 1990
Applications: discipleship, love, compassion, refugees, grace, servanthood, generosity, impact, giving, sacrifice, Christlikeness, witness, social action, faith and works