Chapter
23

As Christmas approached, we put up a beautiful Christmas tree in our living room to celebrate the birth of our Savior. As Alex was on the couch laying on the lap of Elna, Elna asked Alex if she liked the Christmas tree that we had just finished decorating. Alex said that she did, but she was sad about it. As Elna inquired more about why the tree made Alex sad, Alex said, “Because Jackson can’t see it. Maybe if it was on the roof, then he could see it from Heaven.” The next thing I know, Elna has a plan to get a fully decorated tree on the roof.

 

The house and its roof were big. At the center of the roof of the plantation style home was a “Widow’s Watch.” It’s said that in homes like these, women would get on top of their roofs in these areas and look for their long-lost husbands to return up the Mississippi River. It was on this fenced top area of our roof that we constructed a platform to anchor a 10-foot-tall Christmas tree complete with huge and plentiful decorations that would light up to proclaim the birth of the Savior of the world. It would also proclaim to our friends and neighbors that we continue to worship our personal Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

 

That proclamation would be recognized. In fact, after this had been occurring for several years in a row, I noticed something on a pizza box that Domino’s had delivered to the house. There was a small section on the delivery label on the pizza box where notes were input to direct the delivery driver to the correct house. In the notes, it said, “Big house where they put the Christmas tree on the roof”

 

Message was received.

 

Joshua 24 New International Version

 

14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”