A World Aflame: Why I Wrote a Christmas song in a Discount Tire Waiting Room

I made the long drive down to El Paso, Texas. Chasing the warmth of family, the promise of tamales, and a long-awaited Thanksgiving dinner. Somewhere between the New Mexico desert and the outskirts of the city, my Christmas playlist filled the car: songs about presents, Santa, snow, sleigh bells… everything except Christ.

It struck me. The very word Christmas carries His name, yet somehow the culture has managed to tuck Him neatly out of sight. And as I listened, I felt my spirit stirring — not in judgment, but in longing. Because Christmas was never meant to be hollow cheer. It was meant to interrupt a world in crisis with the birth of a Savior.

And maybe that realization came so sharply because of what I’d been thinking about lately: Herod.

The king who feared a baby.

The king who heard “a Messiah is born” and trembled — not because a rival army approached, but because a Child arrived. Scripture tells us Herod sought to destroy Him. Even Herod, in all his tyranny, he couldn't stop why Jesus came.

I’ve been reflecting on that: how we sometimes witness the beginning of a story, and later we face its end. How God threads redemption even through the darkest chapters.

The Three Hours That Became a Gift

When I finally reached El Paso, I didn’t even realize my tires were worn down to the bone until my wonderful, truck-driving dad looked at them and said, “Look at that one — it’s bald.” Before I could protest, he made the appointment for me.

Thirty-seven years old, and my daddy is still taking care of me.

And in that moment, I couldn’t help but recognize the deeper truth: if my earthly father pays attention to the details I overlook, how much more does Christ watch over every mile of my journey?

Because long before those tires were replaced, God already knew I would need that pause. That stillness. That window of quiet to write what had been stirring in my heart for weeks.

A Poem Written in a Tire Shop Waiting Room

So I opened my notes and began to write.

I wrote about why we celebrate Christmas.

I wrote about a king terrified of a Child.

I wrote about a world still aflame two thousand years later.

Wars, fear, cruelty, displacement — none of it is new

And I wondered: If Jesus were born today, would tyrants and governments turn Him away?

Would we?

That waiting room became my sanctuary — fluorescent lights, the smell of rubber, and all.

A poem took shape.

A prayer followed.

And eventually, a song.

Where the Song Truly Came From

This writing didn’t happen because life was peaceful.

It happened in the middle of single motherhood, entrepreneurship, legal battles, early mornings, late nights, and days when hope felt thin.

Worship became the only place I could breathe.

These weren’t polished hymns.

They were raw melodies — honest conversations with God whispered in exhaustion.

I wrote not because I had everything together.

I wrote because I don't.

And in the darkest moments, praise was the only steady ground under my feet.

What’s Missing in Today’s Christmas Music

Listening to mainstream Christmas music only made the contrast sharper.

Where were the songs about the actual Child who changed everything?

Where were the reminders that the world can be on fire and God is still good?

We don’t need more catchy distraction.

We need hope — real hope — the kind that anchors a weary soul.

Honoring the Baby Who Entered a Burning World

A World Aflame became my offering.

A tribute to the Baby who came into a chaotic world, who was hunted by kings, who fulfilled prophecy under threat of death. The Prince of Peace arriving in the middle of global turmoil — then, and now.

I wrote it in a season when everything felt like it was burning down around me. And in that fire, I remembered:

He came for this.

For a broken world.

For the overwhelmed.

For exhausted believers.

For anyone trying to hold life together while the world feels aflame.

He protected the Child then.

He protects us now.

For the Ones Hanging On to Hope

If you are living day by day, doing your best, carrying battles no one sees — this piece is for you.

May it remind you that you are not abandoned.

You are not forgotten.

You are not alone in the fire.

And even in the waiting rooms of life — the unexpected pauses, the bald tires, the interruptions that feel inconvenient — God is working quietly, faithfully, sovereignly.

Sometimes the blessing is in the delay.

Sometimes the miracle is in the waiting.

And sometimes the poem that becomes a song begins in the most ordinary place. Because the Holy Spirit is never limited by the setting.

Listen to "A World Aflame" on your preferred platform:

Spotify • Apple Music • Pandora • YouTube Music • Amazon Music

Lyrics:

In a world of crowns and empires, where the mighty hold their sway,

A tiny child in a manger lay to show a brighter way.

From Herod’s fear to Caesar’s throne, they trembled at His name,

For the humble baby born that night would set the world aflame.

Oh, the light He brings, the peace that flows, dispelling every fear,

God’s love revealed in a child’s eyes, the Savior drawing near.

No Jezebel, no earthly power can stand before this love,

The Kingdom comes, the darkness falls, as heaven reigns above.

A migrant child, a fragile cry, yet all of heaven roared,

For prophecy wrapped in swaddling cloth was more than kings could ignore.

The rulers raged, the nations shook, but every throne would bend,

For the One they sought to silence came to rule without an end.

Oh, the light He brings, the peace that flows, dispelling every fear,

God’s love revealed in a child’s eyes, the Savior drawing near.

No Jezebel, no earthly power can stand before this love,

The Kingdom comes, the darkness falls, as heaven reigns above.

From the East the prophets spoke of a child to rule all lands,

No empire built by human hands could ever stay His plans.

For love has come and peace is born to heal and make us whole,

The Child who breaks the chains of fear and calls each heart back home.

And in the end the world would see that power was not a throne,

But a Child born in Bethlehem. A love the world had never known.

They could not stand, they could not hold the grace that He unfurled,

For heaven touched the earth that night and forever changed the world.