The stage was set for a time of great worry when Ruthie turned ten years old. Nothing fit together as it once had. Too many things had changed. There were many moving parts and the family felt unstable. Doubt had crept into her young heart.

Money for basic needs was scant. “There is no money for extras,” was a message that rang loud and clear. And to top it off, they had moved to this cramped one-story parsonage with no chimney. It was not a Christmas house at all. No place to hang stockings and where would the tree sit? She doubted Santa Claus more each day but did not dare take too firm a stand lest she be wrong and land deeper on the naughty list missing out on the scraps of Christmas that fell on the just and the unjust. Ruthie was convinced. Christmas would come and it would miss her.

She read far too long into that night with the flashlight under the covers. Come morning, she did not easily awaken. “You better get with it, or you are going to sleep right through school and even Christmas, Lazybones!” Older sister Kathryn warned while tugging Ruthie’s leg off the top bunk. “I am so fed up with you.” Ruthie knew the twins, Jojo and James, needed help getting ready for school. “Get up now. You know better.”

Why had she read that crazy story about Rip van Winkle sleeping for twenty years? Surely twenty years of sleeping was only a grown-up curse. But Christmas came very early in the morning and what if she remained as tired as she was now? She just might sleep through Christmas morning.

A more immediate problem remained: a present for her mother. She had made coupons for Mom’s birthday and drawn a picture of a tulip for Mother’s Day. The grey kitty who liked to visit by the back steps would not work as a gift. Mom had grown suspicious of its presence and let it be known, no more strays allowed to be gifted by any family member. Frustrations piled up like the dirty laundry Mom stacked in the wagon to take to the laundry mat with their youngest sister, Sue sitting beside it.

Caught snooping through closets and dresser drawers just this past week, Ruthie would not admit she was looking for proof there was no Santa Claus. She had never doubted before. Why did she doubt now? With doubts like hers, she was not good enough to deserve gifts.

Still, she couldn't help herself as she collected evidence against Santa Claus’s existence. Having listened well to bits of stray conversation here and there and having saved the gift tags from last Christmas, she compared the writing, “from Santa” to Mother’s handwriting all year long.

She showed proof to her older sisters. They were ready for her. If she was so smart, how had she never heard of Santa’s helpers? Santa was not God. He could not do everything and be everywhere at once. Didn’t she know Santa had helpers everywhere and grown-ups were chief among the helpers? Ruthie persisted that she knew enough to blow the lid off the whole Santa scam, then she was told she had better keep her big trap shut and not ruin it for the three younger ones.

Mom wasn’t smiling these days. Dad’s laughter wasn’t ringing through the house because he worked out of town during the week. He came home to preach on weekends, a beleaguered pastor trying to knit together a sad little church torn apart by the infidelity of the prior pastor.

Ruthie did not know what happened to make the church so empty, but she did know the verse about where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them. There was her family, Mr. Thom the deacon, and a handful of regular attenders. They would keep praying and fill these sturdy pews.

Ruthie heard her mother crying in the night and racked her brain with how to comfort Mom. Maybe a glass of milk and a graham cracker which brought herself such comfort and joy after school. But the milk jug was too heavy and bounced right out of her hands. The disastrous milk spill leaked into the box of graham crackers, which soaked up the milk like eager sponges. Then Ruthie was the one crying when her clatter awoke the house. Her big sisters grabbed dish towels and accused, “What have you done?” along with, “Now there’s no milk!” and “No more snacks left for the whole rest of the week!” Ruthie had only added to Mom’s misery. Ruthie determined to “be less of a burden,” which older sister Jean was always suggesting.

At church, Dad’s earnest sermons echoed in the rafters. Ruthie’s ear caught a musical phrase, “The Hope of the Promise made by God to our fathers. For this promise we serve God night and day hoping to attain this promise. My dear brothers and sisters, I want you to know any of us thinking we serve God fervently night and day may completely miss the Hope of the Promise. The Bible is filled with stories of souls who did.”

Ruthie would need to look up these new words, “fervently,” “attain,” and that phrase, “Hope of the Promise,” which flew on such powerful wings, but what did it mean? It was the kind of phrase her mind grabbed onto. She did not want to miss something so grand sounding as that. She asked at dinner, “Dad, who missed it?” He pushed up his glasses and looked at her, “Eh, what’s that?” Ruthie repeated, “Who missed the hope of the promise?”

“Ah, someone was listening!” He smiled at her and then grew solemn, “Many souls have missed the hope of the promise. Jesus is the hope promised by God through Abraham and the prophets, but when Jesus was born here on earth many who heard and even saw him did not believe he was God’s Son. So, anyone who does not believe that Jesus is the promised one, the Savior of the world, the Messiah . . .”

Ruthie interrupted, “But why did you sayyoucould serve God and miss it? Aren’t you the pastor? And all of us; we are in church all the time.”

Dad cleared his throat, “I do believe in Jesus and do not plan to miss the Hope of the Promise, and I pray you children choose Jesus as your Savior, but it is possible to be in church and not believe in Jesus. I’m sorry to say, many leaders of the temple during the time of Christ’s ministry on earth, did not believe in Jesus. In his death and resurrection. Even the ones who fervently studied the law.” Ruthie asked, “Fervently?” hoping to get a definition out of Dad and not have to open the heavy, red dictionary on the shelf. “Yes, ummmm, earnestly, like when you really want to know about something, and you search, seek to know it, to get it.” Ruthie was following, “When you say get it, do you mean attain it?” Dad nodded.

“But how could someone not believe Jesus was God’s Son, in person?” Her dad explained how hearts can be against Jesus and not accept the gift of faith. It’s a long, long list of those who will not confess their sins and be saved by his blood and resurrection power, who will not have fellowship here and throughout eternity.

Ruthie asked, “Is that long list of unbelievers like the other naughty list?”

Dad nodded. “Yes, but it’s even more serious. Because being saved from your sins and enjoying fellowship with Christ begins on earth and lasts into eternity.” “Forever,” Ruthie added. Dad said, “Remember, Jesus said to Thomas, “Be believing not unbelieving.” Ruthie repeated the phrase to herself, “Be believing not unbelieving,” as she walked with her family over to practice for the Christmas program.

Practice was underway, and Ruthie read her part about Jesus’ birth and his name Emmanuel, meaning God with us. She wondered who would watch the Christmas program if the whole church wasinthe program? Another problem to add to the pile.

Her hand shot up when Mom, the play’s director, asked if anyone had an idea for a good name for the Christmas program. The title would be printed on flyers to pass out to the neighbors. “The Hope of the Promise!” Ruthie exclaimed quoting the phrase from the morning sermon that lingered in her mind. She was elated to have her title chosen. Things were looking up.

One afternoon after school, Ruthie noticed that the supply closet in the bus garage attached to their home was unlocked. She took the rare opportunity to search it thoroughly. She found treasure in shopping bags full of unopened packages of the prettiest paper table napkins she had ever seen. The napkins represented each season of the year--autumn leaves, acorns, Christmas poinsettias, holly, spring tulips, cherry blossoms, summer sunflowers and sailboats. Ruthie was thrilled. This could be the perfect gift for Mom this Christmas. She would need to ask Mr. Thom, the Deacon, who helped in the church office while Dad was gone during the week. She hoped to have one package of each of the seasons to give to Mom. Ruthie swung the bag back and forth as she walked to the church office feeling joy over the pretty gift she had found.

Mr. Thom sat in the church office across the driveway. She showed him the shopping bag full of beautiful table napkins and he said she could have them all. They were leftovers from an old fund raiser.

Finally, Ruthie had a gift for Mom and one problem solved. She then noticed the Christmas program flyers sitting on the desk by Mr Thom. “The Hope of the Promise Christmas Program,” was coming up soon and Mr. Thom was delighted to give her a stack of flyers to hand out to the neighborhood.

Ruthie suddenly had an idea so big she could hardly contain it within herself. She would do two things at once. First, hand out the flyers inviting neighbors to the Christmas program. Second, sell the pretty napkins to anyone wanting to buy them. She would not tell Mom or anyone in the family about the selling part. That would be a surprise. Ruthie was going to earn money and actually buy Christmas gifts.

Mom immediately said no to Ruthie going out by herself handing out Christmas program flyers. But when Ruthie offered to take the twins with her, Mom readily agreed. “Don’t go too far and don’t be out too long!” Mom called as Ruthie helped the twins into their coats, hats and mittens.

They went door to door selling packages of napkins and handing out invitations to the church Christmas program. She let people pay what they wanted, and many gave whole dollars and said, “Keep the change.” Along the way Ruthie had another idea she had yet to clear with Mother. She also invited the neighbors to come to the church at 5:30 p.m. and bring food for a carry-in dinner before the Christmas program.

Carry-in dinners were just about her most favorite thing at church, but with so few attendees, their church dinners were bleak. When a concerned neighbor asked why the flyer failed to mention the carry-in dinner on the flyer, Ruthie assured her the carry-in idea had come about after the flyers were printed.

It quickly became apparent that only the Christmas napkins were selling. Ruthie and the twins ran home and pulled out the other seasons and replaced them with the Christmas napkins. Ruthie begged the twins to not tell Jean and Kathryn or Mom or anyone else about their grand plan. The older ones would take over and this was her idea.

But on the very first night, the prayers of the twins at bedtime turned into, “Go Tell it on the Mountain - over the hills and everywhere.” The twins finally had real fuel for their prayers, and they went all in, “Help us sell all the napkins. Help us make lots of money. Help neighbors bring good food to the carry-in. Help us not be like ‘The Little Match Girl,’ and get too cold out there.”

Mother, Kathryn and Jean interrupted the twins’ prayers. “What did you say, James?” Ruthie urgently spoke up, “Shhh, James please don’t say it! Mom don’t make them tell. Jojo, shhhh! It’s a surprise!” But Mother was alarmed at what she had heard and demanded to know what was going on. “Jojo, did you say carry-in?” “And what’s this about making lots of money?” James stated they were getting rich.
And e v e r y t h i n g was confessed.

Ruthie got a stern talking to about taking grown up kinds of matters into her own hands such as church potluck dinners and fund raisers. She learned their church does not invite neighbors to a free church Christmas program for the first time and expect people to buy something. And then there was the matter of the carry-in dinner. No permission had been given her to plan such a thing.

However, on second thought, it was decided that the carry-in wasn’t a terrible idea. The remaining flyers would now include a handwritten note with information about the carry-in. And while they would all help Ruthie write the note on the flyer, she would have to write the most.

Ruthie asked the twins why they had told everything after she begged them not to. Jojo said, “You said don’t tell Jean and Kathryn and Mom.” James piped up, “You did not say, don’t tell Jesus.”

Ruthie had to cough up all the money they stashed in the old metal lunch box under her bed. Mom and Dad allowed her to pay tithe and offering, pay her partners in crime, the twins; and keep what was left, a whopping thirty-two dollars. The remaining paper napkins would be moved to the fellowship hall cabinet and be used for upcoming church events.

When Ruthie heard talk of missing Christmas program flyers from Mr. Thom’s desk, she insisted they were “Not missing, but delivered!” The grown-ups were surprised when Ruthie showed them on the neighborhood map where she and the twins had already been. Yes, this street, this one, yes, yes. And yes, people said they would be happy to attend. These were the same neighbors who had said no to previous church invitations over the past year. More flyers were cheerfully distributed. Their prayers to grow the church were being answered.

The excitement began to build in the family and among the regular attendees as they practiced for the Christmas program. Ruthie heard hesitation in the grown-ups’ voices when they wondered aloud if the neighbors would really come to enjoy a special evening at church. Mr. Thom had caught some of Ruthie’s enthusiasm and said, “I think we better start setting up tables and chairs.”

And when the time came, at least fifty neighbors showed up for the carry-in dinner and Christmas program. The church was full of good food, warmth, music and worship. It was a turnaround point for the little church.

Ruthie who had been practicing her faith in the “Hope of the Promise,” had begun to experience joy in her young life. And when doubt crept in, she remembered the words of Jesus, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing!”