Vaughan Roberts recounts the following story: ‘A few days before Christmas in 1991, nineteen-year-old Robin Farmer had just returned to Northern Ireland after his first term at university in Scotland. He was working in the family shop in County Tyrone when a terrorist gunman burst in and aimed a gun at his father, who was a police reservist. Robin instinctively dived in front of his father and was hit instead, dying shortly afterwards. That courageous sacrifice reflects something of what Jesus did for us. As Robin’s father can say, ‘My son died for me’, so we can say ‘God’s son died for us’. That’s why he had to come to earth. There was no other way by which we could be right with God and have our sins forgiven. Christmas is essential: it really matters!’

Source: Vaughan Roberts booklet, Christmas In Three Words