In my travels, I recently drove through a small southern town and came upon a Nativity Scene that had been created with great skill and talent. The only thing that I couldn't understand was why the three wise men were wearing firemen's helmets.

At a "Quicky Mart" at the edge of town, I asked the lady behind the counter about the helmets. She exploded into a rage, yelling at me, "You Yankees never do read the Bible!" I assured her that I did, but that I simply couldn't recall anything about firemen in the Bible.

She jerked her Bible out from behind the counter, ruffled through some pages, and finally jabbed her finger at a passage. Sticking it in my face, she said, "See, it says right here: the three Wise Men came from afar..."