By The Natchez Democrat editorial board

If God called on you to make a miracle happen for a group of people you didn’t know, would you?

A group of Natchez residents answered such a call when 19 women —immigrant detainees at the Adams County Correctional Center — were freed from the facility with no place to go.

The women were freed after an immigration judge deemed the women were not a danger to the community and after the Mississippi Immigration Coalition raised more than $500,000 in bonds for the women to be freed.

To be eligible for release, each person who bonded out had to be partnered with someone who could sign release forms, provide shelter and transportation to  an airport or bus station.

Cliff Johnson, director of the MacArthur Justice Center, put the local effort to help the women in perspective, pointing out parallels between the Christmas Story and the story of the freed detainees left as refugees in a strange land.

A group of Natchez volunteers answered the call and provided everything from monetary support for gas, food and housing to translating services.

Madeline Iles, a Natchez native and student at the University of Mississippi law school, summed up the situation that happened last Friday.

“We found out there were people in Adams County who were in need and we tried to fill the need,” Iles said. “Regardless of politics, they saw that people needed help and they went above and beyond and provided it.”

We agree.

In a time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ — God incarnate — who preached the importance of serving the poor, the meek and the destitute, we are comforted by the actions of this small group of Natchezians who heeded God’s call to action.

If God called on you to make miracles happen, would you?

These people provide a shining example for all of us who call ourselves Christians. For that we are thankful.