The Christmas Blizzard

It was Christmas Eve and the television screen flickered from the howling winds outside as the weatherman warned of an approaching blizzard. Abigail went to check on her eight-year-old twin girls who lay curled together beneath a warm quilt.

Frank, their father, had insisted on driving to the office that morning to get important papers from his desk before the blizzard hit. It shouldn't have taken more than thirty minutes but he called and said he had stopped on the way to help some people who were stranded and would be a little late.

Abigail was angry because Frank was supposed to get the Coleman stove up and running as they were sure to lose power in the blizzard. He cares more about mere strangers than his own family, she thought on her way to the back door, and on Christmas Eve!

Snow was blowing sideways as she stepped out on the porch. I'll just do it myself, she thought, pulling the metal stove off the shelf. A strong gust of wind pushed her back and the stove slipped from her hands, hitting the porch with a loud clatter.

Within moments the back door flew open and the twins came running out. Mary, the firstborn, tried to pick up the stove. Martha was frightened by the noise and her eyes filled with tears. Abigail laughed softly. "Oh, sweetie, don't cry. I just lost my balance and dropped the stove." Another wind gust came around the house and the back door slammed shut. Abigail reached for it. It was locked!

"Okay," she said, trying not to panic as she pulled an old tarp out of a wooden crate. The wind was howling loudly at this point so she had to shout to be heard. "We're locked out of the house! The storm is too dangerous to take you off the porch! I'm going down the street to Mrs. Johnson's!" She has a key to our house! Just stay under the tarp and hold on to it!"

Abigail left the porch in a hurry but the minute she turned the corner of the house the freezing snow and ice hit her like broken glass. She jumped back around the house, fell to the ground, and began to pray, "Lord, Lord, we need help desperately! Please, God. I beg of you, don't let this happen! We'll freeze to death if you don't… " Someone grabbed her! She shrieked and began to hit and kick at whoever it was until she heard a man's voice shouting over the storm, "Abigail! Honey, it's me!"

"Frank," she breathed in a whisper, clutching him tightly. "We're locked out! The girls…"

"The girls are in the house! Come on. Let's get inside!"

It was nearly two hours later when they lost power. The blizzard was fierce outside but they had been through many a snow storm before so it wasn't something new to them.

Abigail came in with a tray of colorful cookies and two glasses of milk. Frank rose to his feet with Martha on his shoulders who quickly reached for the cookies.

"Oh, no you don't," he said, putting her down. "I don't want crumbs in my hair." The girls scrambled to the fireplace amid a barrage of bubbly giggles as Abigail set out the holiday napkins.

Frank wrapped his arms around his wife and said, "I was going to stop by my brother's house on the way home. If I had, you and the girls might not have survived. The storm came on us faster than they predicted. Besides, I just had this distressing feeling that I needed to get home."

"I truly believe the Lord put that feeling in your heart, Frank. I gave absolutely no thought to those people you stopped to help. All I thought about was myself and my own family and I'm convinced that the Lord left me out in the storm just long enough to make me realize it. I was in desperate need of help just as the ones you stopped to help."

"To err is human, honey. The Bible says that if God doesn't discipline us we don't belong to him. When we're exercised by his discipline we grow in spirit."

"It was a dreadful experience."

"The girls didn't seem traumatized at all when I found them on the back porch. They were giggling and playing. When I picked them up and carried them into the house they were warm but when I found you, you were freezing. Evidently, the trauma was meant for you alone."

"God said that when we help others we will get help during our time of need. I didn't deserve God's help after not caring about those people you helped today."

"Don't be silly. You succumbed to selfishness and maybe God allowed the experience to help you see it. It shows he cares."

"Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it?"

Frank smiled and leaned closer to her. "Yes, it does. Now give me a kiss and I'll fire up the Coleman in the garage and make us some coffee."