It was past 10:00 P.M. on Christmas Eve, and holiday lights brightened the roads of Bangkok.

My son Joey and I had just collected three large bags of bread and pastries from the bakery of a five-star hotel that often donates their leftovers to our family of Christian volunteers. Apparently the hotel bakery had overestimated its Christmas business, because this was considerably more than they usually had for us.

As we walked the last few blocks home, I prayed out loud, "Lord, what are we going to do with all this bread? It's way too much for our family of four!"

It didn't take the almighty God a lifetime to answer. An instant later, it was right in front of us. Sitting on the side of the road was a young beggar in a shabby dress. Next to her, a young child lay on a dirty but neatly spread blanket.

Joey reached into one of the bags, and the smell of freshly baked bread poured out. He handed her a large loaf, and she bowed deeply in the beautiful Thai tradition. When she lifted her face, she was smiling through tears.

Another loaf, an inner voice whispered. Give her another loaf!

The second loaf was met with a smile even more radiant than the first. By now, joy had erased every trace of despair. The young woman looked truly beautiful, despite her rags.

With warm Christmas and New Year greetings, Joey and I said goodbye and set off in search of more lonely and destitute folks to share our bread with. As in almost any major city, there are always plenty of poor people on the streets of Bangkok, even at that time of the night. For the next hour or so, offering Christmas greetings and bread in exchange for smiles became a happy little ritual.

With our bags almost empty but our hearts overflowing, we headed home. It had been a different sort of Christmas Eve for us, with a little more meaning than we had expected. Giving even in this small way had helped us remember what Christmas is all about--a gift from our heavenly Father's heart to ours, Jesus.

Josef Gebhard is a full-time volunteer with The Family.