Christmas in Chicago is a beautiful thing to see. You can feel the Christmas spirit when you pass through the Loop down Michigan Ave at night. All the department stores are lit up. You can feel the spirit when you drive through the many townships that make up Chicagoland. Some of those lit up trees in public squares warm your spirit. 

You can feel the Christmas spirit in my neighborhood where even those with modest means find the money to string lights around their windows. Rich or poor, down or up, left or right, the spirit of Christmas unites us all and remind us that this is the time of neighborly love, family love, and the birth of Jesus who brought so much love into this world.

For me, the spirit of Christmas touched me this year earlier than most. A few days after Thanksgiving, I received a box in the mail at my church. You could tell that the cardboard box had been used many times before by the softness of its feel. Even the tape felt reused.

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I opened it up and I saw a handwritten note on top of a garbage bag. The note read: “Dear Pastor, I am from Arkansas, and I follow what you’re doing in your community. I don’t have much but I hope what I can provide helps.” 

The first thing I pulled out of the bag was a pair of snow boots. I looked for the size and saw it was a size 6. Just days earlier, I had overheard one of the single moms who works two jobs saying she needed boots to get her son ready for the winter. He is a size 5 — close enough. I said a prayer thanking this stranger from Arkansas as I pulled out the rest of her gifts to my community.

I tell the kids in my program, when you go about your day, smile at people, listen to people, and do deeds for people. Help your parents out. Help the neighbor out.

I give so much of myself to my community but I have never thought to give to a stranger in a far-off land. The time and thought she put into this gift was a beautiful thing and her generosity touched me.

As it turns out, her gift was the first of many. 

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The next day I came to church there were several more boxes. They were from California, New Jersey, and two from Arizona. There were also two letters containing donations. All of these givers wanted to help my community. In their letters they said they had heard me on television or read one of my Rooftop Revelations articles for FoxNews.com

I asked several teens to help me carry the gifts to the sorting room and I told them, “See how all these strangers want to help us? They’re all from out of state. Have you ever thought of helping someone so far away? That’s why if they believe in you that much, you have no choice but to learn how to believe in yourself. Then maybe one day you will pay forward these good deeds.”

The next day, I received even more boxes and donations. I had to ask for more volunteers to sort these beautiful gifts — we had piles of sweaters, socks, underwear, shirts, pants, and shoes. All of them new. And so many from people of modest means who could have brought something nice for themselves.

Their kindness reminded me of Proverbs 19:17 (NIV): “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done.”

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When it came time to dole out these gifts, I reminded the children that this is the season of giving. I told them that one of the gifts came from a house cleaner who drove forty miles to drop off a box of socks. She gave out of the goodness of her heart and was very modest when I tried to thank her. 

I told the children they were blessed to have that woman and so many strangers think of them. It is a blessing to receive, I told them, but they should also think of how to give. 

I could see some of them averting their eyes from mine in shame. I told them that I knew many of them felt they had nothing to give but I told them that was not true. You have yourself to give. When you go about your day, smile at people, listen to people, and do deeds for people. Help your parents out. Help the neighbor out.

We may feel the Christmas spirit when the red and green lights come on, when the scent of freshly cut Christmas trees is in the air, and when Santa sits in his big red chair. But one cannot truly feel the Christmas spirit unless one gives. 

To all of those of you that gave to my youths so generously, I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I wish you a very merry Christmas.

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The Detroit Red Wings announced the inevitable with the firing of head coach Derek Lalonde. The team showed life at the start of his tenure and even improved to 41 wins last season. But this year was a noticeable plateau under Lalonde, and Detroit made the only call they could.

In Lalonde’s place, the Red Wings hired Todd McLellan. The former San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers, and Los Angeles Kings coach has over 15 years of NHL head coaching experience, and Detroit is hoping he can bring the team back to the postseason. It’s a gamble worth taking for the Red Wings organization, but the outcome won’t change as long as the roster construction remains the same.

McLellan is a good coach. He’s certainly an improvement over Lalonde, bringing more career wins and nine playoff appearances across three organizations, but he’s a band-aid. The wound in the Red Wings organization runs much deeper than who is behind the bench, and McLellan will be the next bench boss to fall victim to the lack of talent in Detroit

The Red Wings haven’t made the postseason since the 2015-2016 campaign. Long gone is the 30 year stretch where they were basically a perennial playoff team, capturing four Stanley Cups since 1996. The organization has been attempting to rebuild that dynasty for the last decade, with repeated failures along the way.

The current attempt to build the right core is another one of those missteps. They have good players. Captain Dylan Larkin will be a member of the United States roster for the 4 Nations Face-Off and is a talented point producer. Lucas Raymond continues to improve and become the team’s best offensive player. Alex DeBrincat has speed and scoring capabilities. Top defensemen Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson give them quality minutes every night.

Beyond them, though, the roster is so far from a playoff one, let alone a championship one. They lack depth across every position and they’ve consistently failed with their analysis of goaltenders. For several seasons now, the organization has been banking on their overflow of young prospects breaking through to the NHL, but it’s still a waiting game.

That won’t help McLellan take this middling team to the postseason. He has some weapons to work with and his arrival is sure to reinvigorate the Red Wings players. It ultimately won’t matter though. It won’t change the outcome this year or next year or even the year after until their NHL lineup improves drastically.

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OUT: Bojan Bogdanovic (foot), De’Anthony Melton (knee), Cam Thomas (hamstring), Trendon Watford (hamstring), Ziaire Williams (knee)

QUESTIONABLE: Dorian Finney-Smith (calf), Ben Simmons (back)

OUT: AJ Johnson (illness), Chris Livingston (illness), Liam Robbins (Two-Way), Tyler Smith (G League)

QUESTIONABLE: Giannis Antetokounmpo (back), Damian Lillard (illness)

PROBABLE: Khris Middleton (ankle)

Each time the Brooklyn Nets have taken on the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2024-25 campaign, they’ve boasted vastly different lineups. In their first meeting on Oct. 27, Cam Thomas and Dennis Schroder combined for 61 points in a major upset victory.

Most recently, the Nets came up just short against the Bucks on Dec. 8 while riding Schroder’s 34 points to a five-point loss sans Thomas.

Neither Schroder nor Thomas will suit up for Brooklyn tonight, the former having departed for Golden State and the latter continuing to nurse a hamstring injury.

Trendon Watford and Ziaire Williams join Thomas as absentees, while Dorian Finney-Smith and Ben Simmons could enter that category themselves.

Milwaukee’s star trio of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard and Khris Middleton all may sit out this evening as well, forcing the Eastern Conference rivals to rely on a “next man up” mentality to secure the win.

As four key players carry the “questionable” tag ahead of tip-off, the third meeting this season may look quite different from its predacessors.

Nets-Bucks is slated for 8 p.m. EST.

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