When ICE Came to Bethlehem

The Beautiful Mess by John Pavlovitz Podcast · Dec 2, 2025 · 4m

The frigid air was thick was the smell of damp straw and animal dung.

The newborn was wrapped tightly to shield him from the unrelenting wind, while his exhausted mother pressed him close to her chest. The man tended diligently to the fire beside them; the only way he could feel useful in the midst of such scarcity and lack. This was not how he had hoped this would unfold.

A weathered feeding trough surrounded by livestock was a less-than-ideal place for a life to come into the world, but it was the only space that could me made for the young couple, who’d found little rest as of late.

For…