Special Note: We want to thank all who have financially supported our ministry this past year. We typically see a spike in giving at the end of the year for which we are most thankful. We realize there are many fine ministries and causes requesting support at this time but if the Lord would lead you we surely need and appreciate the financial support from our readers and listeners. Our ministry (and support) is essentially comprised of half our time to Daily Encouragement and the other half to our chaplaincy ministry to companies (of course, this varies week by week). Each of these ministries essentially is the same as a part-time job for each of us (20+ hours weekly). Our goal for many years is that each phase would provide half of our ministry expenses and family income. You can donate by check, online or using PayPal. If you would like to make a donation see here for more information or donate directly online here. Thank you! Note: We thank those who have contributed the last several weeks. Due to a very busy schedule we are behind in our thank you's and acknowledgments.

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“O Holy Night”  Video  David Phelps

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The church was out in the country, ten miles from any town. It began serving the small town that used to be there many years before. The town eventually disappeared, leaving little evidence of its existence.

There was the old school, the cemetery and the church. The church was originally a small, white, clapboard building. In the 1960s the congregation built a larger, but still not very big, red brick building. The old church was turned in to a Sunday School Building and joined to the new church.

It sat at the corner of no place and no place else! Well, that's not quite true, as taking the South road, eventually led you to a town of 20,000. If you took the road North, it led to a lake, and eventually to the area school. If you went East, you got to the old school, not used in years, and the cemetery, used on a regular basis. If you went West, you would eventually get to a town of 5,000. On a good Sunday morning, around 100 people came to worship in that Country Church.

On the first Sunday of March 1979 I officially became the Village Missionary Pastor of that Country Church. Even though the church was way out in the country, there were plenty of people out there. There were three Lake-shore Communities, as well as the farms that dotted the rolling hills of Southern Oklahoma, along with some oil wells.

That Fall, the talk at church began to gravitate to the Annual Christmas Program. I had never been much involved in planning and putting together a Christmas Program, even though I had been a part of a good number of them. But, I was the pastor, and I was expected to be the person to make it all come together and work.

Yeah! Right! I knew as much about Quantum Physics as I did about putting together a Christmas Program. Thankfully, very thankfully, the Lord looks out for novice preachers, in some marvelous ways.

The first way was having a wife who had some great ideas about how to do things with a Christmas Program. Then there were some ladies who were “volunteers”, who came forth and assisted in many ways.

But, first, we had to have a Congregational Meeting. Congregational Meetings were a staple in the Southern Oklahoma churches. It was agreed that we would have a Christmas Program and funding was approved. Many suggestions were made, most of them ignored by me and the ones doing the program.

Sooner than I thought possible, it was getting close to time to put things together. That meant assigning parts in the program to all of the children. None of the children were left out.

Although, some had their feelings hurt because they couldn't all play Mary or Joseph. They finally accepted that we also needed Shepherds, Wise Men, People of Bethlehem, and, of course, Angels. That taken care of, the script, music and staging had to be arranged.

Well, the script is pretty much contained in the New Testament books of Matthew and Luke, so didn't have to do an extensive search or do a lot of writing.

The songs were not in the Biblical narratives, so regular Christmas Hymns and Songs had to be used. One, “suggested” by a grandmother, was “The Little Drummer Boy”. She also “suggested” that her grandson be The Little Drummer Boy. That didn't present any problems, as everyone was expecting it.

My bride, along with the ladies who were helping, decided the platform in the chapel needed to be decorated to fit in with the program. That ended up being a bit more work than any of them anticipated. But, when they got it done, it was well-worth every bit of work. The choir pews had to be moved to a side room. The pulpit was also moved to that room. Then large sheets of protective plastic, like you use on the carpet when you paint, were spread across the carpet of the platform. The walls of the platform were transformed in to a stone stable.

The ladies used rolls of Butcher Paper, lots of Chalk and other things, to make that paper look like stones. There were also animals put on those sheets of Butcher Paper, a Donkey, a Cow and Sheep.

The window of the Baptistery needed something, so a sheet of Butcher Paper, decorated to be a Star-filled Sky was hung across the back of the opening, with a large star at the upper center, the Star of Bethlehem. There were even Doves around the window.

After that was all hung in place, it was time to make the platform look even more Stable-like. So bales of Hay were spread out on the plastic sheeting, several inches thick. Some hay bales were put in strategic places on the platform, and made to look like piles of hay.

The small wooden Manger was taken out of the storage area and put front and center on the platform. Some little girl lent one of her dolls to be the “Baby Jesus”.

Dress rehearsal time. The pianist was ready, the ladies were ready, the platform was ready. Were the children ready? Of course. Bathrobe garbed boys and girls with long dresses and other things to make them look like they were living in the time of the event they were depicting. The Wise Men, wearing head coverings to make them look like they were from The East. The songs were rehearsed. The actions and words were rehearsed. All without too many tears, or hurt feelings, by the children, the workers or by me.

Then it was Sunday Morning, time for the real thing!

The church was packed. People came in and “oohed and aahed” the transformation of the platform in to a stable. I didn't hear anyone say anything about how all that hay was going to be cleaned up, but maybe some thought it.

Soon it was time to begin. I began with a prayer, introduced the program and got out of the way. The program began. The songs were sung, the lines were said.

Then suddenly, isn't it always “suddenly”?, something “dramatic” happened. As Joseph, Mary and the rest, knelt on the hay-covered floor, a small child's voice interrupted the whole scene. Four year-old Ann looked at the doll in the manger, pointed and said in her childish voice: “Ooh, a Bug”.

Well, it wasn't a bug, but something larger. It was a full-size local denizen. There on the “Baby Jesus”, in all its hairy glory was a quite large Tarantula Spider!

Well, you can imagine the change of action, with a platform populated with country girls and robust country boys, at the sight of that Tarantula. Some laughter, some shouts, some stomping, some backing away, some trying to catch the critter. Before any of them could catch or dispatch the unwanted invader, it was gone.

As Tarantula can jump a bit, and move rather quickly when startled, it made an exit for the piles of hay and disappeared.

In a few minutes, very few, the scene got back to where is should be and the 1979 Christmas Program was completed. Our family left early the next morning for Christmas in North Dakota, so we were not there for the cleanup and getting the platform back to the usual setting.

I don't recall anyone saying they ever saw the Tarantula when they cleaned up all the hay, and maybe it was so imbedded in one of the hay bales that it wasn't in any danger.

To say that our first Christmas as a Village Missions family and for me as pastor of my first church was memorable would be a big understatement. Those memories are still with us after all the years that have gone by.

We also have the memories of the story that was told that day, a story over Two Thousand Years old. It is still the same, and has never changed.

The God of Creation, came to Earth as a baby, to a family from Nazareth, to be born in Bethlehem. But the story didn't end there.

That baby grew to be a man, and He preached Repentance, and Salvation to the people of Israel.

But His purpose was not to just preach, but to give Himself as the Final Sacrifice for the Sin of Mankind, upon the cruel Altar of a Wooden Cross.

And, it didn't end there. Three days after His human death, He rose from the grave and then rose in to Heaven, where He is seated at the Right Hand of God the Father, interceding for all who call upon Him for forgiveness of sin. One day, maybe soon, He will, as He promised, call His Bride to come to Him, for all Eternity.

During this Christmas Season, with all the activities and business we encounter, take some time to read the Christmas story. It is found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Then like the Shepherds, seek Him out, then Worship and Adore Him.

From our home to yours, may the Christ of Christmas bring blessing upon blessing to you and your family.