‘Twas the night before Christmas and down in the holler,
The pond was froze over, the crick soon to foller.
The snow was piled up belly-deep to a mule,
And the kids were all home on vacation from school,
Sprawled out in the big room just a-watchin’ TV,
And they thought it was fine as vacation could be.

Then suddenly, some time around eight o’clock,
There came a surprise that gave them a shock!
The power went off, the TV went dead!
When Grandpa came in from out in the shed,
With an armload of wood, the house was all dark;
“Just what I expected,” they heard him remark.
“Them power line wires must be down from the snow;
Seems sorter like times on the ranch long ago.”

“I’ll hunt up some candles,” said Mom, “With their light,
And the fireplace, I reckon we’ll make out all right.”
The teen-agers all seemed enveloped in gloom,
Then Grandpa came back from a trip to his room,
Uncased his old fiddle & started to play
That old Christmas song about bells on a sleigh.
Mom started to sing, and first thing they knew
Both Pop and the kids were all singing it, too!

They sang Christmas carols, they sang “Holy Night,”
Their eyes all a-shine in the ruddy firelight.
They played some charades Mom recalled from her youth,
And Pop read a passage from God’s Book of Truth.
They stayed up till midnight-and, would you believe,
The youngsters agreed ’twas a fine Christmas Eve!

Grandpa rose early, some time before dawn;
And when the kids wakened, the power was on!
“Them power folks sure got the line repaired quick,”
Said Grandpa – and no one suspected his trick.
Last night, for the sake of some old-fashioned fun,
He had pulled the main switch – the old Son-of-a-Gun!

It was hoarse whisper. I was flat on my face, in the grass on the hillside. My left hand grasped my single weapon and I kept my head low. Advances had been made, but the enemy, thoroughly aroused, now swarmed through the area. I had been hit once but thankfully it was a minor wound.

Outnumbered by over a hundred to one, there was only one recourse: the PrAir Force! A “flare prayer” is an urgent petition to God that comes directly from the heart in a desperate situation. In this situation I knew that rain would be the only force guaranteed to drive the enemy forces back into their barracks. And even a brief couple of minutes would be enough time to complete the mission before the deadline.

That morning, my rising time was 3:30. At 5:05 it was time to gear up. My boots were not of military material, just second-grade farm boots. Goggles and ear plugs were enough for head gear. My “weapon” was the weed-whacker, well-fueled.

A few steps up the hill I realized something was wrong. My left boot had a hole just large enough to let in generous amounts of moisture from the dewy grass. I made a quick turnaround, secured boots first-grade, and remounted the hill. Would it be too late? Several minutes later I arrived at the enemy outpost: the far beehives, shrouded in overgrown weeds. It was the weeds, not the bees, that were the actual “enemies” in this scenario. But the bees could be enemies if they wanted to. And if they sensed disruption they would want to. I hoped they had not yet begun their morning drills. It was about 5:30, half an hour before official sunrise. Dark clouds were gathering, all but obscuring the morning sunlight. The deadline was 6:30.

It was barely light enough to see. Lightning flickered in the south. Gingerly I worked my way below the hives to see if there was any sign of activity. To my dismay I saw a blanket of bees covering much of the hive’s front. According to Michael, they are often on the alert early, or even all night long, during the longer summer days. I could hear them too. They were poised for action, itching for enough light to begin their flights. Stooping down so that the silhouette of the hive’s entrance showed against the sky, I discovered that very few were flying. I had a little time.

Mission One was priority: trimming around the hedge of holly bushes. Eleven of them semi-circled the hives at a distance of about 8 feet. Everything was gray but I could make them out. With the weed-whacker humming I circled the first one cautiously. Success! The second one was smaller and harder to see but soon it was done. Three. Four. Now I was directly in front of the hives, in the bees’ flight path, trying to keep low. At about bush number eight it became necessary to stop and cut away some netting from one of the bushes. That took some time. When I finished the hedge it was well past 6:00.

Mission Two. Wearing Michael’s elbow-length bee gloves and encouraged by a light sprinkle of rain, I decided to advance inward and do around the hives themselves. I kept repeating Michael’s words “Those hives are the more gentle hives”, “Those hives are the more gentle hives” . . .

In the same counter-clockwise motion, I began a sweep directly in front of the hives, tilting the weed-whacker to keep the clippings from spraying the hives. I passed the first one then the second—the big one—and the third. At around hive number four came the first sign of trouble: a bee caught in my hair. This can be a harmless occurrence and it is harder for a bee trapped in your hair to actually sting, but it does make that bee angry and it’s a sign that there are probably other bees going into defense mode at the same time. I crouched lower and sped up a little. It didn’t help. I felt a couple more “dive-bombers” hitting my scalp, then a sting on my right leg. I certainly deserved it. To escape I crept away from the hive slowly and flattened myself on the ground. The sprinkle had not been enough! Looking up against the dim sky I could see the ever-present clouds, but also now, dozens of bees. They were not running their simple back and forth flights, they were buzzing about seeking the source of their disturbance. It was hard to believe I had been standing there where the bees now swarmed.

What now? Surrender and go home? This job was for Michael. And a sting or two was to be expected. I might never get another morning to take care of this job, let alone an early morning with a chance of rain! If only it would rain! The time was about 6:20. If it rained now there would be enough time to finish the job.

It was also a time to reevaluate my motives. I was confident that if my motives truly were one of a servant, I could trust the will of my Commander in Chief. This was His operation. Certainly He could send help from above. There in the grass I remembered that the success of the mission depends upon my relationship with the One who sent me on the mission.

That is when I prayed “Lord, please make it rain NOW!” A bolt of lightning added quite the dramatic affect. My expectations “brightened”. But then I realized that with the bees in an agitated state it might take a particularly hard rain to dissuade them from pursuing their target. I hadn’t thought of that. So I added: “Please make it rain now, HARD” and then breathed an “Amen”. Hardly was the word out of my mouth when there came another splendid bolt of lightning. The drizzle turned into rain, huge drops of rain, and the rain into a downpour—a downpour you would hardly believe, a downpour I would hardly believe! He did it! He really did it! For me!

I stood up, I picked up the weed-whacker once more and completed the mission. I trimmed behind the hives. I finished in front—their very doorstep! The bees had gone inside! The field was mine! Even “Mission 2” was complete! The last weeds fell. I gathered the netting scraps and jogged home. Inside, the clock read 6:32.

How often in these past months the same scenario has presented itself in various ways. What a different, frustrated person I would certainly be if I didn’t have the smile of the Commander in Chief Whom we have chosen to serve. He finds so many ways to put meaning in our tasks. He transforms the to-do list into a treasure chest of stories: sometimes a wild adventure, sometimes a sense of peace, assurance, and fulfillment. Either way, we may encourage our heart in the Lord, as David did when the going was tough. (See I Samuel 30:6.) The Lord is worthy of our loyalty. He is worthy of everything we have. On His side we can continue our advance, moving onward and upward in the battle.

Activate the PrAir Force in your family. Make prayer a regular thing. Then as you go into the day “Keep your powder dry and a flare prayer at the ready” for any kind of surprise situation may arise. (Do keep your flares in a different pouch than your powder though.)  Remember your Commander as you complete His mission. He is in charge and He is ready always to send help from above.

“As free . . . but as the servants of God” (I Peter 2:16).

Praise ye the LORD from the heavens: praise him in the heights.

Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.

Praise ye him, sun and moon: praise him, all ye stars of light.

Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens.

Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created.

He hath also stablished them for ever and ever: he hath made a decree which shall not pass.

Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps:

Fire, and hail; snow, and vapours; stormy wind fulfilling his word:

Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:

Beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying fowl:

Kings of the earth, and all people; princes, and all judges of the earth:

Both young men, and maidens; old men, and children:

Let them praise the name of the LORD: for his name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and heaven.

He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.

Psalm 148

Most of us have all sorts of clothing in our closets and drawers. But have you ever discovered where those clothes actually came from? Before arriving at the department stores you and I know so well, they were probably made in a far away country—such as Sri Lanka.

Maybe the next time it’s time to do laundry you can turn it into a treasure hunt and find out who has the widest variety of countries represented in the their “treasure chests”! Is there a chance that  between everyone in your family, you might have every continent represented except Antarctica? You might even look up the countries you don’t know on CIA.com or, better yet, on the morning you wear a certain shirt, read the country’s section in the book: Operation World and pray for that country and its people from then on any time you wear it. However you decide to do it, prepare for a surprise!

… just make sure it’s a well-calculated leap!

Two of our friends were recently moving a large stack of mattresses and decided to have some fun…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt.

May 10—The Bates family exemplified orderliness and obedience when their dad said that it was time to go. Less than an hour later, around 1:15, James and Daniel also left for their trip back to Illinois. They however soon returned. A new house-building project was blocking our road and a bypass route had to be found. Then we began to wonder: “How did the Bates make it through?” The only thing we could figure was that the men working on the house had been on a lunch break between 12:00 and 1:00, leaving the road passable at that time. If the Bateses hadn’t left in the time God gave them, getting new directions would have been, for them, time-consuming, not to mention presenting the possibility of getting lost in the-middle-of-nowhere West Virginia. Honoring and obeying authority is God’s way of helping us “bypass” a host of unforeseen roadblocks. 

May 11—Voting Day. Almost everyone remaining at home came down with flu-like symptoms to one degree or another. It was terrible! But on the previous Sunday evening, Dad had given a message from James 1 about sharing Christ’s joy as we weather the trials. Now was our chance to “rejoice … knowing this, that the trying of [our] faith worketh patience … that [we] may be [mature and complete, lacking] nothing”! David’s broken arm also needed to be set that day. There is no doubt that the enemy was doing whatever he could to keep us from casting our vote. With that perspective and much grace from God, all of us were able to vote and after returning from town my queasiness never seriously bothered me again. We were also tremendously grateful that James and Daniel had left soon enough not to be effected.

May 14—it was supposed to rain in the afternoon so we went to mow the lower section of our property in the morning. After I took care of the area around the pond and trimmed the rest, Jonathan took over, finishing before lunch. Still the sun was shining. As a matter of fact it didn’t even sprinkle until 6:40. I began to think I could have done “more important things” and maybe even put off the mowing altogether until Saturday. When morning dawned, my doubtful thoughts quickly vanished. From our dining room window we saw that in the night a tree had blown down right across the lawn. I looked at Jonathan. The surprise on his face mirrored my own. Both of us were glad we didn’t put off the job that Dad said was important.

Don’t worry too much about finding the perfect time to do a job. Stay in touch with authority. Do the most important things first.

As time goes by, the web site has grown into a kind of album. Since there were so many pictures from our trip that still didn’t make it into our posts we decided to devote one more post to pictures! We hope you will share in our joy both for what the Lord has done in our families and for the promise of what He has yet to do this year developing the character of Jesus Christ in us.

Perhaps the most memorable event of all was blowing up their gingerbread house. Wild? Maybe. But a blast none the less! The pyrotechnicians in the family had discovered that you could create quite an explosion by combining balls  of foil with a special cleaning agent in a plastic bottle. All we had to do was take the experiment one step farther – why not place the bottle inside the gingerbread house! (It was no longer edible anyway. Otherwise it probably would have met a different fate… ) I personally was rather skeptical, thinking it would probably give a little pop and roll over. No way! It shot gingerbread, icing, and candy over 10 feet away!

Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed every moment of our visit. Thank you Neely Team for opening up your home and taking the time out of your full schedule to  encourage us with your gracious southern hospitality! You launched 2010 off to a thrilling beginning!

Later we saw how God was working it all out for good. Because we began swimming after it had started to sprinkle, we had the beach pretty much to ourselves. Then the sun came out, we had a blast riding the waves, and we were ready to head home just as all the crowds started pouring onto the  beach. And now we can all say we went swimming—on Christmas Day!

For instance, we usually we spread out our lights all over the house, inside and out. This year we decided to put all 2000 of them in the living room! Usually we go to Grandma and Grandpa Brannon’s for cookies and a gift exchange on Christmas Eve. This year we will be taking our gifts with us in the car! Usually we have family and friends visit us around Christmas. This year we will be visiting them!

But most importantly, usually we think that if we ever did it any differently it would lose a lot of the fun. This year we found out that isn’t true! The spirit of Christmas is not based on traditions! It is the relationships with God and others that make Christmas what it is. Circumstances may be different, but the historical facts and spiritual meaning behind the traditions still make Christmas (whether at our house or not) the best time of year!

Check back soon for the Christmas Cookie Contest!