There were parts of his job that Sheriff John Charles Olsen simply hated. Today, he had to perform one of those dreaded tasks. Today, he had to evict a father and three children from their home. To make things worse, it was a week before Christmas.

Now, how did this ugly situation come about? Stephen Reade had been a successful salesman in New York City. So successful that he was able to support a wife and three children. Tragedy then struck the Reade family. Stephen's wife took sick and died. Before she died, she made Stephen promise to take the children to live in the country. She had grown up in the country and she thought city life was what made her sick.

Stephen, being an honorable man, took his promise to his wife seriously. He packed up the kids and moved to the country. Stephen rented a farm from Mr. Sam Merske. As you probably have guessed, Stephen took to farming like a fish takes to breathing air. He was a terrible farmer. As a result, he couldn't pay his rent. Mr. Merske was quite patient with Stephen but eventually the inevitable had to be done. Now it was Sheriff Olsen's job to carry out that task.

When Sheriff Olsen got to the Reade house he found that the only ones home were the three Reade children. They invited the Sheriff in to wait for their father. After quite some time the sheriff became restless. Ellen asked the Sheriff if he was restless.

"Kinda," said the Sheriff.

"I am supposed to give you a letter when you get restless." Ellen went and got a letter and handed it to the Sheriff.

Sheriff Olsen worriedly opened the letter and began to read it to himself. It was from Stephen Reade. It was awful. He was giving his children away. This was supposed to be his Christmas gift to them. He thought they would be better off with adopted parents who could take better care of them.

The Sheriff quickly packed up the Reade children and took them to his house for his wife to watch over. The Sheriff then went in search of Stephen Reade. He found him trying to leave town on a freight train. Sheriff Olsen grabbed Reade and dragged him off the train and put him in his car.

After a while, Stephen pleaded with the Sheriff to let him go. He said he was no good for his children. He said he had lost his nerve and was scared. The Sheriff looked at Stephen and said, "Do you think I don't know what scared is like? Today, I have to dress up like Santa Claus and pass out Christmas presents to the children. Now that scares me. That makes me very uncomfortable."

Stephen Reade grunted. "Oh, you think it is so easy?" asked the Sheriff. "If it is so easy then you do it. I'll make a deal with you. If you play Santa Claus for me then I'll get you a job. Besides, my wife is bringing your kids and I am sure they will get a kick out of seeing their father play Santa Claus."

A short time later they had Stephen Reade dressed up and on stage as Santa Claus. He was the most depressing looking Santa Claus ever. His head was down and it looked like he didn't have a friend in the world. The Sheriff wondered if he had made a mistake by putting Reade up there. He had hoped it would give him confidence again. Then, things got worse. Sam Merske sat down beside the Sheriff and Merske was hopping mad. Most of the presents had been bought at Merske's Dry Goods Store and all the presents were wrapped in Merske's paper because he was the chairman of the celebration committee. Merske had a lot riding on the celebration. "You have your nerve sitting here," said Merske to the Sheriff. "Who do you have up there in those whiskers?"

Little Ellen Reade who was sitting next to the Sheriff said, "It's my father, Mr. Merske. Isn't he wonderful!"

Sam Merske said to the Sheriff, "So, you put that no good bum Stephen Reade in that suit. That's just wonderful. I'll get you for this, Sheriff."

Stephen Reade began handing out the presents to the children. As always, there were two, three or even four children who were unhappy with their presents. Because of this the committee always kept a few extra presents for these children. The only problem was the Sheriff forgot to tell Reade about the extras.

Oh, no! Here came Johnny Pilshek and he was mad. He had gotten mittens and he didn't feel that was an appropriate gift at all. He marched up to Santa and said, "I don't want mittens. Mittens aren't a real present."

"You are right, Johnny. Most mittens aren't a real present. But these are special mittens. The label says they are made of interwoven, reprocessed wool. We had to order them specially for you at my home in the North Pole."

"But I already have mittens," said Johnny.

Santa, I mean Reade, took Johnny's hand in his and inspected it. He then said, "I know you have mittens but you need these special ones. You have very special hands, Johnny. You need to keep those fingers of yours nimble. If a baseball player at your age gets frozen fingers he will spend his whole career in the minor leagues. And, Johnny, we don't want you anywhere but the major leagues."

At that moment, Johnny had a new perspective on the mittens and his future. Johnny went away dreaming about baseball and the major leagues.

Just then little April came forward. She said, "I think there has been a mistake. This present was meant for a boy."

"We don't make many mistakes," said Reade. "But let me see what we have here." Reade examined the package and it was a drab gray muffler.

"I don't mind it being a muffler but this one was meant for a boy," said April.

"Well, you are right, April. This muffler was made for a boy and I know it is ugly but we chose this especially for you. You are a very pretty girl, April, and you are going to get even prettier. But the truth is you have to protect your voice. To get on television or in the movies you have to have a good voice."

"Do I have to wear it all the time, Santa?"

"No, just when it gets below freezing. You have your mother check the thermometer before you go out and if it is below 32 degrees then you wear it."

"Yes, Santa, I will. Thank you!"

And so it went that on that day all the children were happy. Sam Merske said to the Sheriff, "Pretty tricky. Having Reade put on an exhibition for me of his sales skills. All right. I will give him a job."

The Sheriff was shocked. That was not his plan at all. Things were turning out better than he expected. Now it felt like Christmas. Just then, the piano was beginning "Jingle Bells." Sheriff Olsen joined in with the singing with a joy he had never sung with before.

The moral of the story is to believe in yourself if you want others to believe in you, too. And the truth is we should believe in ourselves. For remember, you and I are children of the living God.

Excerpted from Mark Bowser's popular book Power Nuggets. To get your copy, go to www.MarkBowser. com or www.Amazon.com .

Announcing a brand new website from the creators of www.MarkBowser. com and The Empower Newsletter. A website dedicated to one of the most worthy and needed professions in the world. The profession of Sales Professionals. Get MP3s of some of the world's best Sales Coaches. Go to www.TakeActi onSales.com. Your source to help you close more sales!

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Taking Fred Smith's philosophy home, on the job, and into the community. Log onto BreakfastWithFred.com. He's loaded with wisdom!

It has been said that many people think communication is taking turns talking, but that leaves out an important ingredient--the heart. A high jumper broke a world's record. Somebody asked him how he did it and he responded, "I threw my heart over the bar and the rest of me followed."

When the breadwinner comes home from the job, he needs to bring his heart with him and ask his or her mate how their day went. He needs to listen intently to what she says. If empathy is called for, express it; if sympathy, demonstrate it. The same basic principle applies on the job. If you work with and around other people, Fred's wisdom helps you to understand that people don't really care how much you know until they know how much you care--about them. People measure the care factor by the depth of the interest you display in their performance, their future, and even their families at home.

How do you apply this principle in the community? It works simply because everybody is interested in someone who is interested in them. When you volunteer and use the principles in the community, then your contribution there will be significant, as will be their acceptance of you and your eventual rewards.

A listening ear, a willing spirit, and a genuine interest in others are always going to impress and inspire other people. When people see you genuinely care about others, rather than just yourself, you are more likely to communicate effectively with them. The Bible says that "He who would be the greatest among you must become the servant of all." And you serve willingly and joyfully, and that's what Fred communicates. You do it with love and your effectiveness goes up.

Zig Ziglar is a well-loved motivational speaker and author. You can find more pearls of wisdom from Zig on his weekly newsletter. To find out more about Zig's books and CDs and to subscribe to the free newsletter go to his website, www.ziglar.com.

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"And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her first child, a son -- (The Angel said) 'I bring you good news of great joy for everyone! The Savior-yes, the Messiah, the Lord- has been born tonight in Bethlehem, the city of David! And this is how you will recognize him: You will find a baby lying in a manger, wrapped snugly in strips of cloth!'"
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