Sometime later, after he regained consciousness, Smee found and reinserted most of his teeth, again, he even saw a couple he had missed the first time. Then he slowly fought his way back up the side of the crater, again. Finally reaching the top after hours of work, he propped himself up on one elbow, then the other, again, and rested tentatively on the edge of the crater, again, waiting to regain enough strength to climb the last little bit out, again.

“Nice afternoon” came the robust voice suddenly from behind him. The voice was made of solid metallic holiness: it instinctively inspired uncontrollable terror in the hearts of those who oppose God. It was Michael’s. Michael the warrior. Michael the really HUGE warrior. Again.

Smee shook so badly that he lost his grip on the edge of the crater. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” The sound of his voice faded as he fell, then there was a little thump, then silence, before the birds resumed their chirping and the dust resumed its settling. Again.

“Well, I think it is a nice afternoon” smiled Michael smugly.

The sound of the wind whisping past him, the traffic below in the streets, the bright sun light and fresh air, all beckoned to Smee to awaken. And so, he slowly regained consciousness a bit: enough at least to ponder who he was and where he was and how pleasant it felt to be drifting along like this albeit with a somewhat painful spot in his midsection where Katrina had provided liftoff. He let his eyes stay lightly closed and savored the moment.

He started to remember: Katrina’s son Sean was watching him wave the bottle of shoe polish in front of him, back and forth, back and forth. Smee had allowed it almost to come within his grasp, then pulled it away. The child had to want it bad enough to grab it, then put it in his mouth, hopefully poisoning himself and getting black shoe polish all over himself and the living room rug. Humans were so easy to manipulate at this age.

Almost time to let him have it, first just loosen the lid a bit, and then, and then, Pain. Katrina’s foot had caught him like a soccer ball. “But what goes up must come down.” Smee nodded to himself as he finally regained consciousness. “So pleasant, so peaceful, floating up here, like ….”

“What goes up must come Down. ” Smee couldn’t get the thought out of his head. Then it slowly dawned upon him: yes, it was pleasant, for the moment, but what goes up Must Come Down. The panic hit him all at once: perhaps a few nanoseconds before he hit the earth: again.

—

“She, she’s dressed like a, like a, like a, prostitute!” croaked one wife, her voice hushed in a whisper to maintain privacy, her complexion dark red from the neck up.

Three wives had Jannie pinned by the piano in the choir room after practice. Church would start in just a few minutes. Even without Smee, things were progressing according to his purpose.

The other two wives nodded. “You are the choir director. You can’t let her go out there like that. When she sits down she’ll flash every man in the first four rows of the sanctuary.”

“Can’t you give her a little slack?” pleaded Sis. Edwards “She is a new saint. We involved her in this to help her draw closer to God and this church: to help her find a special place where she knows she is loved and important.”

“Sis. Edwards,” started the second, who was then interrupted by the third.

“We know all that,” reasserted the third, “and we agree with you on it, but it’s not going to work out that way. You know as well as we do that as soon as she sits down that tight skirt is going to show a lot more than her youthful bony little knees. No woman in this church wants her husband staring at some other woman’s underwear!”

“Sis. Edwards,” resumed the wife who had been interrupted “If we try to talk to her about this it is going to just cause hard feelings and confusion.”

“That’s right.” added the first “You are our choir director and our Pastor’s wife. You are responsible for everything that goes on in Worship. You tell us what you want us to do and we’ll do it. But you must be the one who handles this. If anyone has seen her then it is likely already started.”

“Excuse me, Babe” It was Pastor Edwards holding the choir room door slightly ajar. “We are going to start five minutes late. Bro. Brown just walked right into a door post, bloodied up his face a bit, and then Bro. Rodriguez tripped right over him.” Pastor Edwards quickly disappeared into the hall where the women could see through the door two other men were supporting Bro. Brown with a towel to his head.

The three wives said nothing more: they simply looked at Sis. Edwards: but the look said “See. We told you so”.

Jannie sighed. “Ok, I’ll handle it. But you, and anyone else, you’ll say nothing to her. And if someone else tries to talk about it, tell them we’re here to save souls, and people need time to learn and mature. Tell them not to let anyone get them to talk about it. I will handle this.”

“This one?” No. Slits were forbidden unless they were in back. But pleats were so… frumpish.

“This one?” Oh yes, and maybe… she slipped into a moderately tight tube skirt and knelt to check. With a bit of adjusting, the hem did just barely touch the floor when she knelt.

“Well, then, I’m legal” she smiled. “And with these heels…” Eris examined herself in the mirror. No extreme bumps or lines. A perfect combination if ever there was one. And a scarf. Perfect. Smart, attractive, and legal. With the right accessories she might even find her picture with a nice ‘You go girl’ comment under it on the “Do’s and Don’ts ” page on Glamor.com.

“Look out Groundswell, here comes Eris!” She smiled.

—

Smee watched from the ledge of Eris’ bedroom window as Eris climbed into her cherry red sports car and started off to church.

“Good name” he thought. “This will be a piece of cake. Now to get the other ones ready to properly respond.” Buck would be too experienced to fall for this, but Katrina was very jealous of her husband’s affections. And a real fireball. She would be fun. Just the right little suggestions in the right places at the right time. And if he timed it just right, he’d have Katrina dancing before Buck could do anything about it.

—

“Bub bub! Bub bub bub!” implored little Megan as she held onto Cat’s ankle and reached for her skirt. Cat stood in the kitchen, finishing off a few stray dishes before heading out the door to choir practice. “Bub bub bub bub!” persisted Megan.

Cat stopped washing a coffee cup and looked down at Megan. Megan was staring right back up at her, looking very worried. “Bub bub BUB!” she squawked and pointed, as best a 1year old can point, at her twin brother Sean. Sean had found something that was holding his attention too much. Cat looked as closely as she could to see what in the world was so interesting to Sean, and Megan eventually lost her grip on Cat’s hem and sat down with a plop on the kitchen floor.

When Cat finally recognised what Sean was watching so carefully, all the blood drained from her head and she moved on adrenaline fired maternal instinct. “Hyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy YA!” she screamed as she ran directly at Smee, who was dangling a bottle of shoe polish in front of Sean, moving it back and forth and grinning wickedly, as Sean tried to grasp the bottle.

Cat’s boot connected with Smee’s abdomen hard enough that his tattered bat-like wings fell limp around him and his body headed through the temporal wall of the Rodger’s home and straight for the moon like a soccer ball. The bottle of shoe polish was pulled from his hand by the wall as he passed through it: the shoe polish was, after all, corporeal and Smee was not. Sort of. All Smee had time to see was the toe and bottom of Katrina’s boot. “She can see me” he mused as he lost consciousness.

Having seen the small demon disappear through her living room wall, Cat ignored the endangered carpet and scooped up Sean to hold him close. Megan was crawling back to meet her in the living room. She turned a hard eye to both her twins. “They can see them” she thought. “Our kids can see angels too. And the demons are after them.”

“God is so good”

“Yes, yes he is”

In the atmosphere above Groundswell, Smee had arced out of Hell and was streaking like an asteroid back toward earth, specifically, Groundswell. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” he screamed as he tumbled head over heels falling toward the earth.

“There!” said Katrina as she walked over to Buck and pointed. “Right above the garage peak. Can’t you see it? It looks like a falling star.”

The crowd was looking but no one could see the asteroid trail that caught Katrina’s attention. “Buck” she said “Right there.”

“Sure, I see it.” said Buck. He looked at the others. The rest were searching the sky but clearly they could not see the fire trail. “You all really cannot see that? ”

“Sorry, no” they replied. “But you can? Are you joking with us?”

“No.” answered Buck “Never mind. How do you all want your steaks?”

Katrina put her arm around Buck as he stood at the grill taking orders. “Buck, what does it mean. We can see it but they can’t. The only time that happens is with …”

“Yeah” said Buck, as cheerfully as he could muster.

“With angels” offered Cat.

Buck looked down at the grill grimly, but resolute.

“Or demons. We’ve had two years of peace. Now we have company.”

—

“AHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” screamed Smee as he rocketed toward Groundswell. No parachute. No airfoils. Maximum velocity. Ground coming up fast. He was tumbling like an out of control space ship through the atmosphere. Smee closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. At least it would be brief.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!” Whump. The earth moved a bit from the impact, and then the peaceful night resumed, crickets resumed chirping, and the dust resumed settling around the crater which Smee had made as the earth conflicted with his trajectory.

Sometime later, after he regained consciousness, Smee found and reinserted most of his teeth, and then slowly fought his way up the side of the crater. Finally reaching the top after hours of work, he propped himself up on one elbow, then the other, and rested tentatively on the edge of the crater, waiting to regain enough strength to climb the last little bit out.

“Nice evening” came the robust voice suddenly from behind him. The voice was made of solid metallic holiness: it instinctively inspired uncontrollable terror in the hearts of those who oppose God. It was Michael’s. Michael the warrior. Michael the really HUGE warrior.

Smee shook so badly that he lost his grip on the edge of the crater. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” The sound of his voice faded as he fell, then there was a little thump, then silence, before the crickets resumed their chirping and the dust resumed its settling.

“Well, I think it is a nice evening” smiled Michael smugly.

—

“Oh, whatever do you mean?” said Reliant innocently “Surely not that the Rogers are now baptizing 20 more people into Christ? Why I should think you would rejoice that more people are escaping your fate. Oh. Wait. Yeah. That kinda conflicts with your general plan, doesn’t it.” Reliant smiled peacefully as he folded his hands in front of himself.

The home Bible Study group was on the Rogers back deck, one man standing in the hot tub and the others waiting for their turn to be baptized.

“Daniel, upon the authority of the Word of God, I baptize you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost.”

—

Hell was having a less pleasant experience at that moment.

“Have you nothing to do with your time, that you come here to mock us?” screamed Lucifer. “You have blocked us for two years. We have no chance to interfere. There is no sportsmanship, no fairness, no even chance. Mock then, for I would see you become as myself.”

“As entertaining as your antics may be” Reliant sighed “I am here on business.”

—

The rejoicing at the Rogers home Bible study was finishing. The last person stepped into the hot tub.

“Anna Marie, you have already received the Holy Ghost. Congratulations! Now hold your hands like this and hold your nose. Anna Marie, upon the confession of your faith, I baptize you now in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins.”

—

“As much as I would like to stay and watch” sighed Reliant “I am here on business.”

“Why should I hear anything from your mouth?” sneered Lucifer.

“Oh, excuse me. Then I will report to the Creator that you prefer to hear this at His mouth.”

“NO! Anything but that. Please. Not again.” Lucifer cowered in what was left of his throne.

“So here is the deal” reported Reliant “Smee may enter Groundswell. He may not touch their persons or their lives.”

Smee was a small demon, fairly fast, not exactly strong but rather intelligent, at least for a demon. He quietly backed away from the right side of Lucifer’s throne where he had been standing, however, he was not fast enough to escape his ruler’s grasp. Lucifer’s hand found Smee’s throat much as a panther plays catching mice.

“This whimp?” asked Lucifer “He will let THIS in but bars the real demons?”

Reliant nodded. “Take it or leave it” he sighed “it is what you get.” And with that Reliant turned on his heel and left.

Smee dangled helplessly in Lucifer’s grasp. Even through his closed eyes he felt the stares of the entire cavern focused upon himself.

“Look at me.” hissed Lucifer.

Smee opened his eyes. This was the worst. Lucifer wasn’t too bad if you didn’t get too close, and you stayed away when he was in a bad mood, which was most of the time. But there was no escape this time. Lucifer looked into Smee’s eyes, transferring fire and ice in his gaze. Smee trembled in terror very much like a small helpless, terrified, little animal caught in the grasp of a man.

Lucifer spoke one word as he violently exhaled fire from his nose. “Succeed.” He then hurled Smee like a rock through the crack in the ceiling.

The figure in white sipped his Coke before he answered. “Yes,” he drawled “Now they are ready to grow more. And the others need to be brought into the fold.”

“Then you want me to pull back the hedge and let them in?” offered Reliant.

“Soon” the figure in white answered, “but not quite yet. There are still a few pieces to fall into place first. Let Smee in. He can’t harm them physically. And no one may touch their lives.”

“I will make it so” answered Reliant as he rose to obey.

“Micheal” Reliant commanded

“Sir?” answered the warrior.

“I will return shortly.” explained Reliant, “Keep an eye on things for me please.”

Michael responded “Sir, yes sir.” and Reliant left for Hell.

—

“When people entered into a covenant in Abraham’s day” Buck was teaching, and every ear was his. “it was what we would call a contract today. A blood covenant was the most serious. It was called a ‘blood’ covenant because both parties cut themselves so they bled, and they would agree something along the lines of ‘If I ever fail to look after your house and your best interests, I will forever become your slave.’ It was the most serious thing a person could swear. And God entered into a blood covenant with Abraham, which he and his descendants participated in through the cutting of circumcision. This covenant is why God told Abraham about his business in Sodom: Abraham’s nephew Lot was living in Sodom, and God could not destroy it without telling Abraham first.”

Very few people had ever taught with the impact with which Buck and Katrina taught. They were like twin tigers. Tonight Cat was watching the twins and Buck was teaching. The power of God was almost tactile in the room — you could feel it like a warm blanket on a cold day.

“The Apostle Paul writes that if two men enter into a contract, then a third man coming along later cannot just walk up and disannul that contract — it still stands. He says in that way that the law, which was given through Moses, cannot disannul the covenant God has with Abraham. We benefit from that contract if we believe as Abraham did, but under Christ we signify the contract with baptism, rather than cutting flesh in circumcision.”

—

Lucifer sat on his stone throne staring at Reliant. Demons closed behind him, but not too close — they had seen what happened to the guards who tried to stop him earlier.

“Reliant.” stated Lucifer, flatly.

“Lucifer.” stated Reliant, flatly, but somehow with superior inflection. Reliant enjoyed irritating Hell and in particular he enjoyed irritating Lucifer. A number of Reliant’s friends had been pulled into Lucifer’s rebellion and now faced an eternity in the lake of fire. Reliant had no love for Lucifer, an angel who had everything Heaven could offer except the very throne of God and that wasn’t enough for him: he had to try to take that too. He cared nothing for the angels that he talked into joining him — he used them knowing what what would happen to them afterwards. He simply didn’t care. But Reliant was a professional, doing a job. Vengence belongs to God.

“The mucker job has already been filled.” sighed Lucifer dismissively.

“Sad to hear that” replied Reliant “I had hoped no more angels would let themselves be tricked by you into spending eternity in the Lake.”

“Are you calling me accursed?” Lucifer smugly fumed.

“I call you nothing. Count your blessings that your poor minions haven’t yet decided to repay you for what you have done to them already. Forever is a long time to spend immobilized in unspeakable pain while your skin melts off your body and runs down your feet into the flames.”

Behind Reliant there was a low mumbling of voices. “Forever. He got us condemned. We owe him big time.”

Reliant smiled pleasantly at Lucifer.

—

“Still, the name of both parties must be on the contract:” Buck was continuing the lesson “the person being baptized and the name of the person covenanting with him. This is why the actual name of Jesus is used in baptism. ‘Father, son, and Holy Ghost’ are not actual names: if I sign a contract Father, Son, and Construction Worker then the contract is meaningless. If I sign the contract Buck Rogers it is binding on me to fulfill my commitment. Sins are remitted through baptism, and the power to remit sins is through Jesus Christ, so if the contract is not with Jesus, if the baptism is not in the actual name of Jesus, how can the sins be removed? They can’t, can they?”

Buck turned to Acts two, and eight, and nineteen, and then ten and showed each historical account where someone had been baptized, and pointed out that the words spoken always involved the actual name of Jesus. He also explained the triune baptismal formula did not come into common use until after the start of the fifth century AD — it was not how the original church that Jesus established baptized. It wasn’t on the Search of Truth home Bible study chart, but it was very timely and appropriate.

A mumble ran through the room, as about 20 people understood, and more importantly, they believed it. Two men in the front were obviously crying.

“Dear God” one of them whimpered “All these years I thought I was saved and I have been living on borrowed time! If I had died I would have still been under sin!”

“What can we do?” cried another. “I don’t want to die like this! Please tell us what to do!” The crowd agreed.

“Well” asked Buck “What did they do in the Bible?”

“They were baptized” mumbled the crowd. “They were baptized properly using the actual name Jesus so their sins were removed from them and they were saved.”

“Then what prevents you now?” asked Buck “We have robes you can wear, and our hot tub is clean and full of water. Why live any longer with sin on your lives? We can stop and baptize anyone now who wants to be baptized.

“Buck?” said Cat quietly.

“Yeah?” answered Buck.

“Do you think we should have children?”

“Cat! We’re in church.”

“Just, do ya?”

“Well, yeah. Sure. Why are you asking now?”

“Because” Cat whispered as she struggled to keep from regurgitating “I think that you are going to be a father.”

The ensuing demonstration probably lacked decorum, especially when performed during church, on the platform. Buck also learned quickly not to kiss his wife when she is having a bout with morning sickness. Sometimes you gotta go with the moment.

And the First Apostolic Church of Groundswell was running about 751 members in Sunday worship.

“Their membership voted to go ahead and provided $120,000 seed money last month.” explained Mary. “Their board of directors cleared all the other hurdles and is ready to break ground with your approval. Sign there.”

Horace signed the document, flipped the page to the letter requesting expeditious processing of their IRS tax form 1023 — the form that asked officially that they be recognised as a religious organisation. Churches didn’t need this form, but they could file it if they wished to be detailed and transparent in their financial activities. Some pastors feared government interference in their preaching would eventually happen, so they just claimed that their tax exempt status descended from the main church organisation’s tax exempt status.

“Paul sure is taking great pains to keep everything transparent and legal” observed Horace. “That is most unusual for a church, but I think it is forward thinking and very responsible.”

“Some of the board were concerned about that” replied Mary “but with the number of underhanded manipulations going on these days, Paul felt that absolute transparency was the proper path.”

“Well,” said Horace “He has my blessing, and hopefully this letter requesting expedition of the process will get his app. approved in less than the year and a half it normally takes. Wish we had more solid citizens like those folks.”

Horace paused, laid his pen on the table and leaned back in his chair to stretch, and more so, so that he could carefully look at Mary. “That is where your grandfather’s church was located. Is this all happening too fast for you. Should I slow it down?”

“No Horace” answered Mary, a far away look coming into her eye. “For fourteen years I have been frozen in emotional cold storage. Fourteen years, dead to this world — no emotions, no daring to care, always feeling my life ended that day when they hung grandpa and killed almost everyone I knew. No, building this church feels like closure. It feels like now we are finally back on track — like I am coming out of limbo and starting to belong again. It feels like I am finally getting back what belongs to me and to this community.”

Horace smiled. Since Mary became involved in that church she had been a different person. She had always been efficient, capable, precise. But so cold. As if she were just a clay body with a computer inside. Now she was a living being. “I hope for your sake this all works as you think it will” he smiled. “That’s the best church that has ever been in these parts. Every other church is out to get its members, their money, and take its share of community resources. They show up with their hand out and if I don’t put money in it they are gone in a blink. These people have never asked for anything and they helped heal this community of a bunch of stuff that has haunted us for years.”

“The preaching is helpful to, Horace” smiled Mary “if you ever care to visit you’ll not leave the same. This next document is the community council’s legislation on recycling and rubbish removal…”

The Bible study that day had ended a bit earlier than usual, and they had played some games and fellowshipped, then someone had a rather deep life question, and God answered in such a way that the whole group was drawn into worship. Two more people received the Holy Ghost in the Rogers living room on Christmas Eve.

The Edwards, Loves, and Rogers all sat around the brazier in the front room, reading a book or chatting on-line. The room was comfortable, the lighting was perfect, the fire in the brazier hypnotically drew everyone’s gaze. Jannie Edwards had just come in from the kitchen with a tray full of mugs brimming with hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. Cat was using Buck for a pillow, laying on her back with her eyes closed. Buck lovingly caressed her eyebrows. If humans could purr Cat would have done so.

All in all, this was the first Christmas Eve Cat could ever remember feeling that she was surrounded by loving family.

“I remember when I was a little girl” began Jannie Edwards “Mom would let me help her bake cookies and fresh bread. Dad put the lights on our Christmas wreath because we didn’t have a tree, and then we would light the fire in the fireplace and wait for Santa. I always put out some of my cookies with a big glass of milk for Santa.”

Paul Edwards continued. “I remember one year I wanted a sled so bad. The other kids had one, and the city had marked our street as a “no plowing” zone, because it was on a hill and we could sled down it. I wanted that sled so bad.”

“But there was no sled under the tree. Dad had just started a church in that town and there wasn’t much money, but he got Mom and me both a small package. But it wasn’t a sled. I stayed in my room until they called me to come out Christmas morning: I had to go into the bathroom and wash my face first because I had been crying. Mom came in a got me. She said Dad tried really hard to get me what I wanted, and I was breaking his heart staying in here crying. She said I needed to think about Dad once in a while and not just me, and besides, how did I know I wouldn’t like what I got.”

“I had to work at it but I prayed and washed my face and came out. And Dad handed me the little package. When I unwrapped it it was a box. When I opened the box there was another package in it. There were like four packages in that stupid box, each inside another. When I opened the last box I almost cried. I could not see anything at all in it — just packing paper. Then I saw a note at the bottom. It just said “Go and look outside.”

“And you got your sled?” asked Jannie.

“Oh yes. It was a Flexible Flier. Red. Big enough to lay down on: bigger than the other kids.” reflected Paul. “And I cried all night before because I thought I wouldn’t get what I wanted. ”

“So what did you do?” asked Philia Love.

“I went back to my Dad and hugged him.” said Paul. “I told him I was sorry that I didn’t believe enough in him and was thinking only of what I wanted. I told him if it cost too much and he had to take it back then I would understand.”

“Then what happened?” asked Jannie.

“He sat me on his lap, and I hugged him and we cried. It was so hard, building a church. That’s all Dad ever did: he got them started, then God would call us to another city to start another, and someone who had sacrificed nothing to earn that church would get it all ready to go with 100 saints and a salary. It seemed so terribly unfair. I couldn’t stop crying so I slipped off Dad’s lap and started praying beside the couch, and Dad prayed with me. In time I was worshiping God for being so kind to us instead of crying because we — because I — didn’t have ‘things’ as others did. Finally I repented of my selfishness and I told God that I would serve him no matter what — it didn’t matter if I never got anything else. And God filled me with the Holy Ghost there by that beat up second hand couch. I got more than a sled. I got what I really needed, and it changed my life.”

“I was so sorry I had acted selfish as I had, that Sunday I brought the sled as my offering. Dad didn’t want me to do it, but I insisted. One of the elders auctioned it off then and there. It brought in four thousand dollars and ten people prayed through to the Holy Ghost in that service. I thought I’d never see my sled again, but it was worth it.”

“Monday, after I came home from school my sled was by the back door. There was a note attached. It said “Cast your bread on many waters: you know not which will return to you. Perhaps it all will.”

The room was silent except for a few stifled sniffles.

“So Buck, what kind of Christmas memories do you have?” asked Paul Edwards, as he brushed back a tear.

“Well yeah” said Cat, as she sat up and turned to her husband. “This is your first Christmas as a human. Give.”

“Did you get to see Jesus when he was born?” asked Jannie. “I mean did you talk with him and stuff?”

“Well, I remember what he did on Calvary a lot more than when he was born.” stated Buck, honestly. “It was about two years before the star gazers — wise men — visited them from Asia and Herod tried to kill him. Basically he looked like he was just a baby with a really BIG contingent of angel guards. I was still kinda overshadowed by the underworld at that point, so we really didn’t have much good information. And it was in the spring, not December 25.”

“What did people do to celebrate Christmas in the first century?” asked Jannie.

“Well, nothing. ” answered Buck. “A few people celebrate Christ’s baptism, but no one celebrated the birth of Christ. Druids celebrated the Winter equinox, when day is at its shortest the whole year, and the Romans celebrated the ‘birth of the unconquered Sun’, also on December 25.”

“As time went on though, stuff happened.” Buck continued. “Barbarian hordes invaded Rome from the north. After 400 AD the Roman Catholic group really started to come into power, and they basically ruled through the dark ages. By putting Christian words and names to the existing pagan holiday on December 25, they hoped to eventually convert the pagan conquerors to Roman Catholicism. It worked.”

“At first the Christmas Day celebration was radically different than you know. It was like a pagan celebration with major drinking and revelry. ” Buck reflected on his days as Puck, when he would scare young women or do a week’s work in one night if they left him a bowel of cream. “And in time it did lend itself to some fair entertainment and usually more than one bowl of cream.”

“There was one time I remember, in the Netherlands. I was following this really rich money changer guy around who was working with this priest to defraud this old guy of his house. He had three daughters but his wife had died of pneumonia when they were very young. He had to raise them himself, which wasn’t easy for a man in those days.”

“The money changer I can understand but why was the priest against this guy?” asked Philia Love.

“You must understand,” answered Buck “Roman Catholicism cannot be supported by scripture. Any thing that raises public awareness of scriptural Truth is a threat. You also must realize that all through the ages, even through the dark ages, God has always had witnesses — people who know and teach the Truth. This guy was one of them. It was illegal for him to have a Bible, but he had got one and kept it hidden. He taught his children the Truth. The Priest did not want that to continue, because if it grew it would cause problems for him.”

The room was silent, Bucks family sipping from their hot cocoa and waiting for the rest of the story.

“Go on baby” said Cat “How did you find these guys?”

“Well, thoughts and words have power. God actually SPOKE the universe into existence, and humans share some of that power because they are made in God’s likeness. Greed and malice emanate from greedy and malicious people and draw demonic attention the way body heat and breath draw mosquitoes. It was a no brainer. These guys I could torque and God would open a cold Coke and sit down to watch.”

“Surly he would not!” offered Agape Love. “Why they’re still people! And they didn’t even have Coke back then!”

A figure in white robes, which Buck and Cat could see but the others could not, walked in, smiled, and sat down in the empty chair behind Agape. Buck and Cat smiled back and watched so that the others turned to look, but of course they saw an empty chair. The figure pulled a glass of ice from his robe with one hand and a Coke dripping with icy drops of water with the other, popped the tab, and started to pour it into the glass. Half way through he stopped, then set the glass and half full can of Coke on a table behind him, using a magazine to protect the table. He opened his left hand and another cup of hot cocoa appeared, of the same design as their cups, complete with marshmallows over the top. He smiled and nodded to Buck as if to say “Please continue.”

“Well, ” replied Buck “I’m just telling it like it is. God knows yesterday from forever and Coke got invented by someone sometime. In God’s eyes it always existed. Time is like cards in a Rolodex to him.”

The figure smiled and took a careful sip of his cocoa.

“So anyway,” Buck continued, “I followed this money changer guy around, and it turns out he is pressuring this cobbler guy with the three daughters to sell his daughters as servants.”

“SELL them?!” spouted Jannie. “Like animals?”

“Yes. They were quite pretty, but it was time for them to marry. In those days the father had to provide a dowry with the bride. If the girl did not please her husband, he could return her with the dowry. If he didn’t have the dowry he had to keep the wife no matter how bad she was. That dowry represented her personal worth, because as long as he kept her, it meant he kept her because he wanted to keep her, not because he had no choice.”

“Pigs” mumbled Jannie, under her breath.

“It was a different world then, dear.” said her husband Paul. “I can understand. I would keep you no matter what. ”

“Is that related to the story Jesus told about the woman who lost a coin, so she lit a candle and swept the whole house until she found it?” asked Agape.

The figure in white raised his cup in a toast Agape.

“Yes.” answered Buck “Like that. Anyway, with no dowry, no marriage. So the only thing he could do was sell them as bond servants to someone. They could never marry, so they could never have children, so that solved the priest’s problem. The Linage of Faith would die out leaving only Roman Catholicism.”

“The jerk” muttered Jannie.

“Rich jerk” added Cat. “So what did you do Buck? You didn’t let them get away with that, did you?”

“Of course not” smiled Buck. The figure in white smiled too. “At first I tried making extra shoe components for him, and introducing unusual amounts of wear in believable ways on people’s shoes so they would have to come to him and buy more. But it wasn’t enough. The priest was pressing him to either marry off or sell those daughters.”

“What did you do?” asked Cat.

“Well, I consulted with someone who knows things” Buck nodded at the figure in white “and upon solid advice I re-allocated certain coins from a secret stash the money changer had stolen from a man who died earlier that year. There was more there than that, and he was legally bound to return it to the family, but he hid it. There was more than enough there for three dowries. Then I needed a way to deliver it so that they would get it but they wouldn’t get accused of stealing.”

“What did you do?” asked Philia.

“Well, I looked around, ” said Buck “and I saw the only thing in the room really was four chairs, a table and their stockings hanging to dry by the fireplace. Soooooo, I dropped the coins into each girl’s stocking, then I stomped around in the fireplace and made some tracks around the front of it — enough the villagers would think someone else was involved, not this poor old guy. And to top it all off, I knocked over a chair and waited for him to wake up — I had to do it about six times before one of them got it — and then I scooted up the chimney behind the stockings so a little slime and ash would flutter down. But they STILL didn’t get it. So I bumped each stocking to make them swing from the hook and yelled HO HO HO!”

“Ummm. No.” said Jannie.

“Ho ho ho Merry Christmas” corrected the figure in white.

“Yes, how could I forget. ‘Ho ho ho Merry Christmas’. They found the stockings, which swung oddly with weight in the toes, their dads arranged marriages with three good men, and they did live good happy lives after that, and the Linage of Faith continued.” summarized Buck.

The figure in white smiled, set his almost empty cocoa cup beside the coke glass on the magazine, kissed his hand and waved to Cat and Buck, and disappeared.

“Buck, I never know if you are pulling my leg or telling the truth. You are telling us you were the original Saint Nick?” sighed Jannie as she stood to collect the cups to wash them. “Hey, where did this cup come from? I brought in six but there are seven here. And who left half a glass of Coke here?”

“Well” said Buck “Merry Christmas. God Blessed us everyone.”

“Amen” said the group together.

Thursday was another day. Buck worked 6AM to 3PM and headed home to Cat, who had already started preparing for their Thursday home Bible study. He called a short greeting to her and poured himself a clear, tall glass of ice cold cream, took a sip, and placed it down on the stove. A mischievous look in his eye he opened the microwave, revealing the freshly heated taco chips Cat had just placed there to freshen.

Buck silently slipped the chips out of the microwave and into the conventional oven, then slipped a bag of popcorn into the microwave before Cat slid into the room smiling. She wrapped her arms affectionately around Buck, holding his attention as she deftly switched his glass of cream with the popcorn and slid the popcorn into the back waistband of her skirt. He spun her around so that she was by the cupboard and he again by the stove to pick up his cream, when he discovered it was gone. He looked intently for a moment before he realized that Cat had swiped his fav beverage, but by then she had opened the cupboard and retrieved a serving plate, sliding the rescued popcorn bag in back of the cups.

Buck, of course, lunged for the cupboard as Cat giggled and slid out of his way. While Buck’s head was in the cupboard searching for his cream, Cat scooped the taco chips back into the microwave, started the microwave, and headed into the living room carrying Buck’s glass of cream.

“MMmmmmm Buck you make the best cream” Cat purred as she slid away.

“That’s Mine!” called Buck, playfully.

“Mmmmm” said Cat, a white cream mustache telling that she had just helped herself to his cream.

He chased her across the coffee table, their feet clad only in socks and sliding on the hard wood floors. They ran over the couch and around the room twice before she let him corner her with his cream. “Mmmmm” she smiled as she took another drink “My favorite!”

Cat’s green eyes locked lovingly onto Bucks piercing blue eyes “Now I must teach you a lesson!” he smiled.

“Kiss me my Anthony!” chanted Cat

“You have already stolen my kingdom! Will you also take my heart?!” exclaimed Buck

“Two straws” quipped Cat as she pulled two soda straws from her belt and dropped them into the waiting cream. Silence ensued, broken only by rapid gulps as both tried to reach the bottom before the other. Buck won, but it might have been because Katrina let him win. Or maybe not, it was a close race.

Buck set the glass on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around Katrina. “Do you know I love you?” he asked.

“Do you know I waited all day for you?” she asked.

He kissed her and looked into her eyes. “We have five Bible studies going now. This is awesome. And everything is always perfect when they get here. You are awesome.”

“Oh, the teaching you do is awesome” replied Cat, as she laid her head on his chest. “Others teach from book knowledge, but you actually KNEW those people. You speak with awesome authority because you were there.”

“I just speak what I know” answered Buck as he held her tight. “It is the LORD in that teaching that makes it so incredible. Forty people are in church now, baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost — half of them filled in our house — just one study a night, eight people a study. God is the one who is awesome!”

“Amen” said Cat as she pinched him. “And the trash you promised to take out this morning is still waiting for you on the porch. CHOP CHOP! Our guests will be here at seven!”

The gentle figure in white robes and a gold belt sat down on the Lazy boy chair and pulled the level to release the foot rest. It slid up under his feet as he closed his eyes, a happy smile forming on his face. Reliant stood near by attending, as the figure motioned to the love seat next to his chair.

“Why are we sitting down” asked Reliant.

“Just resting my feet before I start this next Bible study” replied the figure in white.

“Those two are really something” mused Reliant after a short silence.

“Yep”

“Funny too”

“That thing you did. Their first morning together where you scared Buck senseless.”

“Yeah. I almost split at the seems. Did you see the look on his face.”

“Reliant, that was mean.”

“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t intend anything bad by it.”

“I know. Still, if it was anyone but Buck I’d a had ta say someting abod it buddy!”

“But with Buck?”

“Funny as all get out. Did you see the look on his face?”

“Yeah. It was historic. I put a copy in the archives for his Day.” Reliant paused. “Do they get a couple years of peace now that they’re married?”

“Do you think they really want that?”

“No, but I think they need that.”

“What if I told you that there are not a couple years left?”

“There aren’t?”

“Just what if I told you so?”

“Then I guess they’d prefer to be useful now and rest later in heaven.”

“Yeah. Anyone else would take the easy way out. Those two are really something.”

“So waddaya think?” asked Jannie, her eyes fixed on her husband, Pastor Paul, as he looked at the bumper sticker she had just handed him.

“You made that on your printer?”

“Yep. Do you like it? We can have some made at the mall print shop.”

“‘Jesus es Senior de Groundswell’. Nice. Good colors. Earth Tones. Yeah, you did good. But lets stop at 100. We don’t need a re-run of the candle thing.”