The Neely Team

I have been trying to get this up for several days, but it’s better late than never, right? So…

Every year, we try to think of ways to simplify the Christmas season so that we can concentrate more on the true meaning of Christmas – that Jesus came to Earth to save us from our sins. Sometimes we succeed; and a lot of times… well, we’ll just leave it at that. This year, we had a kind of “forced simplicity”, which made Christmas 2009 go down in Neely Team history as probably “the most unusual Christmas we’ve ever had!” 

The night of Christmas Eve, we were planning to follow our regular Christmas traditions the next day, and to just enjoy the time with each other. We had invited about ten other people to come have Christmas dinner with us, so we had gotten the house in ship shape,and by the time we went to bed that night, we were ready for a good night’s sleep, in preparation for what looked like would be a fairly busy day the next day. Yes, it was busy, but not quite in the way that we had planned!…

For me, it all started around 5:15 am, when I awoke to hear the excited whispers and restless movement of two of my sisters, in the bed next to mine. We have a rule that no one is allowed to get up before 6:00 on Christmas morning, to allow the sleepy ones (i.e. Dad, Mom, and a couple of us “stick-in-the-mud” older girls ) a teensy bit more time to sleep! So anyway, I was lying there, trying to tune out the noise of the girls’ excitement and go back to sleep, when I suddenly realized how dark it was. The power had gone out! I didn’t think much of it at first, because we have power outages all the time (especially when we have a windstorm like we had that night), and they usually don’t last very long. However, it was about 5:45 before I finally drifted off to sleep again, and my last thought was, Hmm. I wonder if the power will come back on in time…

Well, that altered a few people’s plans to get up at 6:00, as they were still lying in bed, wondering what would be the point of getting up in the dark, with no lights, no water, and no way to cook the breakfast we had planned! Finally, around 6:45, my siblings managed to wake me up enough to get out of bed, and  all nine of us headed downstairs to Mom and Dad’s room, to wake them up, too, in spite of the dark. After all, that’s what flashlights and candles are for, right?

That morning was actually very similar to other Christmas mornings, except that we got up later, couldn’t turn on our Christmas lights, couldn’t turn on ANY lights, except for our candles and flashlights, and had scrambled eggs and grits (which we cooked on our gas-powered stove) instead of baking the breakfast casserole that we usually have on special occasions. After it got to be light outside, Dad went out and hooked up the generator, which some friends just helped us hard-wire to the house back in October – just in time! The effect was wonderful! It wasn’t like having all of our regular electricity on, but it was good enough to run a couple things at a time, so that we took turns running things like the hot water (for showers and dishes), kitchen lights, refrigerators, and freezers. It’s amazing how attached we can become to our modern conveniences… and how much we miss them when they’re gone!!

After breakfast, we all gathered in the living room again to read the Christmas story and open gifts. Usually we just read the Christmas account from Luke 2, but this year we READ it, taking time between each verse to discuss the scenario and imagine what it would’ve been like to really be there. From Luke, we went back to Matthew and read the story about the wise men. Then we got into a discussion about “the star.” What was “the star” that the wise men followed? We had quite the discussion about that, and talked about several different possibilities; all in all a very interesting conversation! But more about that later…

We had to cancel our dinner plans with our friends because of the power outage. That was okay, because it gave us more family time; more time to relax and enjoy each other’s company. We altered our meal plan just a little, so that instead of baking the turkey, we grilled venison cube steaks and tenderloins – delicious!

We had another interesting twist to the day when shortly after dinner, the generator suddenly ran out of gas! We had called the power company, and they had said that they hoped to have the power back on by 11:00… PM… on SATURDAY night!!! So, with that in mind, Dad decided that we had to try to get some gas, so that our refrigerators would stay cold. At first, he was planning to go out by himself, but after some discussion, we decided to all load up and go. So, we enjoyed our time, spending Christmas in our 2nd (or maybe our real) home – the van! I have to mention here that usually we spend a lot of Christmas afternoon settled down in the living room, sitting in front of the Christmas tree. It’s so cozy and homey… but obviously that wasn’t going to work very well this time, so we loaded our two-foot-high tree into the van, plugged the lights into a power inverter, and enjoyed our little Christmas tree in our “home away from home” – how appropriate!

I realize that this is pretty long, and I don’t want to bore anyone, so I’ll skip to the end of the story… The power actually came back on around 7:00 pm, so that night we cozied down and watched “The Star of Bethlehem.” Let me take just a moment here and encourage anyone who has never seen that video to PLEASE do so!!! It is AMAZING!! Words fail me when I try to describe it, but it is an unbelievably fascinating tribute to the accuracy of the Bible and the sovereignty and perfection of God!!!!!! To know that the God of our universe would actually come to Earth, be born as a human baby, live a perfectly human life, and die an excruciating and horrible human death… just to save me, and all of us, from our sins and give us the opportunity to live with Him forever, is hard enough to fathom!!!! Then to see the design and perfection with which He had planned the universe to announce His coming, birth, and death… it was incredibly humbling!! It was a wonderful end to a truly wonderful Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

A few weeks ago, we received a package enclosing a new DVD released from Vision Forum, called “The Mysterious Islands.” The film centers on the present-day war between Darwinism and the biblical Creation account. To do this, it takes you on a journey to the Galapagos Islands, where Charles Darwin first did his research that later resulted in his book, The Origin of the Species. As we got it right before leaving for our trip to GA for Thanksgiving, we took it with us and decided to watch it with our cousins. We did and it was a refreshing look at how good God is and filled us again with awe for His intense creativity!

One thing the video covered that particularly stood out to me was a story they told about Darwin’s trip. He was taken by ship, and during the course of the five-year voyage, became close friends with the captain. They were both seeking answers, but though they studied the same things, they arrived at vastly different conclusions. Darwin, because he had already determined in his heart that the Bible was only good for moral issues, not science, became convinced that the world and all therein was a result of random chance, mutations, natural selection, etc. The captain, on the other hand, found striking evidence for the Creator and later became a strong Christian. This reminded me of the importance that we interpret everything through the truth of Scripture, God’s infallible Word, and that our hearts must be tender toward that truth. These two men witnessed the same sights, walked the same shores, and studied the same creatures and processes, but because one carried with him that baggage of worldly philosophies, he was blinded and led to draw up some of the most ridiculous theories imaginable. The other found God’s Light, grace, and Almighty hand to guide and direct his life and help him see his true origin and the reason for his existence.

Because of this fierce battle between these two vastly different worldviews, I was also reminded that we, as Christians, must be seeking God and studying His creation so that we may be equipped to pass on the truth to the coming generations. The Lord used this film to renew my excitement in these things and my awe for Him and His matchless ways! He truly is amazing!! If you have not seen this, we highly encourage you get it. You will be inspired! Our whole family is now ready for a trip to the Galapagos! 

“O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein. These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good… The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever: the Lord shall rejoice in his works… I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.” (Psalm 104) 

“O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens… When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? (Psalm