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Amid pleasing thoughts of reflection, Flanders Nickels, a born-again believer, looked around at his special place of De Pere, and he praised God for its simple and comfortable attraction.  He came here much for worship in the Lord.  He was sitting upon a bench that looked out onto the melodious little pool of the Union Hotel.  In front of himself, on this end of the pool was a single-spout fountain with a white light.  Off on the far side, close to the street, in this pool was a five-spout fountain with five colored lights, with a bench off to the right side.  Bricks landscaped this special place instead of pavement.  Short little streetlights gave light to this special place here at summer night.  And between this end and the far end, flowing waters trickled over various levels of concrete beds of this wonderful and old pool.  To his left was a series of thick black short iron posts connected by thick black iron chains dangling post to post.  To his right was the landmark called “The Union Hotel.”  And a pleasant zephyr from the Lord blew upon his face, and he thanked God for that.  Reflections were much like prayer, except where in prayer a Christian directed his thoughts to God, in reflection a Christian

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directed his thoughts to himself.  Both were most fulfilling means of worship for Flanders in his walk with Christ.  Here at the fountains of night, his reflection came back to remembrances of a girl of ago.

Her name was Heidi, and she was the only girl who could have become his girlfriend.  As rare as pretty girls were to Flanders in his eyes, even rarer for him were girls who saw him as a handsome guy.  But “his” Heidi was both at once in the same girl.  She wanted him to become her boyfriend, and he wanted  her to become his girlfriend.  Such had never happened for lonely Flanders before, nor had it happened for lonely Flanders since.  Heidi was a most special and especial young woman.  Caught up in his reflections here at the little pool, he fell upon saying her full name out loud for himself, “Heidi Hallstrom.”  Whoops!  He said the woman’s name out loud.  He looked around.  No one was around.  No one heard him.  He put his hand over his mouth.  And his reflection continued on in the Lord.

Why had he let the girl get away? He had hesitated. He had apprehension. He had “good reasons.” He knew why he did not go and ask Heidi out for a first date.  He had refused to cheat on the she-angel Zack.  He had firmly convinced himself—or maybe she was the one who told him so—that if he at any time in his life started going out with a human woman, then his angel woman would leave him for forever.  Though he had never seen Zack, she was in his heart a Collie dog like Lassie was a Collie dog.

And he believed without doubt that she was waiting for him in Heaven to “marry” him, and they would run the meadows and the seashores of Heaven together for the rest of eternity as dog and man.  And he doubted not that in order to prove faithful to her, he must never ask out a girl to become his girlfriend.

Flanders, in love with one he knew not, chose in this life never to be unfaithful to Zack “his wife in the spirit.”  After all, she loved him, and he loved her.  And their relationship had made him happy all ten of their years “together.”  And he wanted many more years “with” her—both here far away from her and there in Heaven, where he could finally see what she looked like in her Collie resplendence.  In this  reflection now as a saved man, he well knew that those ten years of happiness were when he was still an unsaved man.  And he had not the wisdom of the Holy Spirit of God indwelling him then, himself

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yet so lost in his sins.  Then that Heidi came into his life as a fellow worker.  He bagged groceries at his job; she rang up groceries at her job.  And this cashier was really quite pretty for a girl.  And she started

flirting with him.  She looked like a fun woman to have as a girlfriend.  And as soon as he first thought that, he saw once again another girl who might come between him and Zack.  But this woman liked Flanders back!  And he turned to Zack to rescue him again from a woman.  But this woman was different!  And he feared for his “marriage in Heaven.”  But this gal was so real and so here and so now!  And the day came for him to “take his stand for Zack and prove his love for her in this greatest of

tests.”  It happened one day in the break room in the basement of Olsen Foods.  He was alone down there; Heidi came down alone to join him; she bought him a Seven-Up from the pop machine; she waited for the guy to ask out the gal.  He made himself say not a word all the break long.  And she got away from his life.  He “prevailed.”  Now he would not be lonely in Heaven.  And he proved his love for his Collie dog angel of Above in his greatest act of faithfulness he had ever persevered over.  It was like “the hardest thing he had done since conquering schizophrenia years before.”

As he reflected thus at these fountains, though the story was sad, he was happy.  He was born-again now and now knew the truth about Zack with the wisdom of God his Saviour.  Now he knew that Zack was never this good angel who said, “I love you, Flanders.”  Safe now in Jesus’s arms, Flanders could now say that Zack was all along the fallen angel who only wanted to bring him down to Hell with her when her time of judgment would someday come.  She had charmed him with literary fantasies when he wrote his stories about her; she had charmed him with magic when he listened to pop rock and country music songs on his record player; she had charmed him with music videos when he would pretend to tell someone how much better it was to be loved by an angel from Heaven than to be liked by a girl on the Earth; and she had charmed him with silent messages when he thought that it was God Who was speaking to him.  And all of these sweet and deceitful charms were meant to make him think himself content and to not seek Christ as Saviour for salvation and for true contentment.  Along came

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the woman Heidi Hallstrom.  And Zack stepped up her charms on this deceived man to keep him from

seeking human female companionship.  Looking back now at these fountains, Flanders knew that he was not the only one who was still unsaved among him and Heidi.  Heidi then was just as unsaved as himself back in the day.  And it was as if Zack were afraid that Heidi would steal Flanders away from her.  Why else did Zack go out of her way to fill the lonely man’s heart so full of canine affections just when a flirtations pretty young woman came along from nowhere into his life?  And in joy of salvation here at the fountains, everything now made right with Jesus these past years as a Christian, Flanders again asked himself the most fascinating question of his reflections:  “Why was Zack so afraid of Heidi?”  Zack was in truth a formidable demon all along whom Flanders loved with all his heart for many years.  And Heidi was a quite mortal woman whom Flanders had liked—and never loved—for just a few months.  Could not a devildog like Zack, if she wished to, crush down upon the woman of flesh and blood and blot her out of the Earth?  Also, seeing that Zack was a demon who lied to Flanders about her love for him, what would it matter to her if he were going out with the girl or not?  Indeed, were he to stay with Zack or run away with Heidi, Flanders would still be lost and seeking satisfaction in the wrong places and not seeking Christ the Saviour for salvation.  Though these seemed like dark thoughts, now that he saw things with the light and truth of God, he reveled in his eternal wisdom of God now as he reflected upon this past that was now safely behind him and never to come back.  Zack was gone.  And Heidi liked him.  And he liked both declarative statements he had just thought.  Zack was gone.  And Heidi liked him.

And he still liked Heidi.  And his reflection progressed into prayer, and he said to God, “Lord, please save the soul of Heidi Hallstrom. She could have become my girlfriend.”

Just then he heard a beautiful voice call out to him from behind where he sat, “Flanders, is that you?”  This was fair Heidi’s voice speaking to him, the voice he never forgot!  He turned around and jumped up to his feet.

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“Heidi, that’s you!” he called back.  And the comely woman came up to him, looking even prettier now that when he had known her at the grocery store.  “Heidi, you’re pretty!” he said.

“I am?” she said.  “I am.”

“I mean that you are even prettier,” he corrected himself sincerely.

“And you are still a real cute guy,” she said.  “Did you miss me really?”

“I never forgot!” he said.  She was older now, but indeed more alluring.  Her pretty glasses no longer covered her eyes.  Her brown hair was still long and straight.  And she was still tall and slim, her head higher some than his head.  Today she was dressed most ravishingly.  Covering her torso was an acrylic black sleeveless shaker sweater with a V-neck over a red plaid long-sleeved cotton shirt.  Covering her legs were a pair of women’s faded blue jeans.  And her feet were bare.

Then Miss Hallstrom said to him, “I’ve been praying for you, Flanders.”

Months of intercessions for Heidi for her soul in Flanders’s most desperate prayers were suddenly answered by Heidi’s six words.  “You’ve been praying for me, Heidi?” he asked in wild hopes that she really was saved now after all like himself.

“Uh huh,” she asked.  “I care for your soul, Flanders.”

“And I’ve been praying for you, too, Heidi,” he said.

“You really have, Flanders?” she asked.

“Yes!  Yes!” he said.  Only born-again Christians can truly pray effectively for a soul of a dear one.  “I care for your soul, too, Heidi.”

“Did you go and get born again, Flanders?” sang out Miss Hallstrom in great hopes.

“Yes!  Yes!  I did,” he said.  “Did you, also?”

“Yes, Flanders.  I became a born-again believer, too,” said Heidi.

“Our good God works miracles,” he said.

“God does good work,” she said.  And they hugged there for just a moment at the fountains of

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this special night, she with one arm carrying two hardcover books.

He looked at the two books, and he said, “One of them looks like the Bible,” he said.

“Yeah!  The King James Bible,” she said.

“Ah, the good Bible,” he said.  “And the other looks like a hymnbook, Heidi.”

“My extra special Christmas carol book,” she said.

“You like Christmas carols?” she asked.

“I love Christmas carols, Flanders,” she said.  “I live for Christmas.  I love to read in the Bible about the First Coming of Jesus.  In fact I became born again on a Christmas, Flanders!’

“Christ’s First Advent,” said Flanders, admiring this woman from ago now very much more.

“I don’t know which of these two books I like better,” she said.  “This book of carols has every last Christmas hymn about my Lord’s First Coming that I have ever known.  There are a hundred Christmas carols in this wonderful book, and I know how they all go.  I even memorized lots of them.

So I can sing them for myself even if I do not have this book open.”

“It is red and green,” said Flanders.   “The traditional colors of Christmas.”

“And this K.J.V. Holy Bible has all and only perfect Words in it.  It is truly God’s love letter to mankind.  It is not the words of men like all the other Bible translations out there that people love to buy,” said Miss Hallstrom.  “I think that I like this book more than this other.”

“Good choice, Heidi,” he said, himself a believer who took a stand for the King James Bible in his Bible study life. Then he said, “Heidi, would you sing me a Christmas carol from your book?”

“It could be one that I have not yet memorized,” she said.

“You could sing it from the book then,” he said.

“It is dark outside now,” she said.

“There’s lots of streetlights here,” he said.

“My voice could be hoarse,” she said.

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“Your pretty voice can make a carol sound like it is being sung in Heaven,” he said.  Her voice was quite clear and well.  “They say that a pretty girl is like a melody.”

“I cannot sing a carol right now,” she said.

“Maybe I can sing it,” he said.  “Could you open up your book of Christmas carols to ‘Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing?’  I can sing a carol now for you.”

“I’m sorry, Flanders,” said Heidi Hallstrom.  “I cannot listen to ‘Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing!’ right now.”

“Oh, Heidi,” he said.  “I thought that you loved Christmas.  I won’t sing about Christmas now if you do not want me to.”

“Thank you for accommodating me like this, Flanders,” said Heidi.  This was most unsettling, and Flanders did not understand. But he chose to let this trouble pass.

He tried again to fellowship with this sister-in-the-Lord, and he said, “Could we open the Good Book and read Scripture about Christmas, Heidi?”

“I know classic Christmas verses back in the Old Testament, Flanders!” said Miss Hallstrom.  “Yes!  Let’s read Bible verses together about Christmas, if we could.”

“Let us sit down here and fellowship, comely Heidi,” he said.  And an “old girlfriend” sat down next to him on this bench on a first date with him.  And they opened up her Scriptures to the Old Testament.

She began, “The first one I think of, of course, is always Isaiah 9:6, Flanders.”  He searched the Scriptures and found it.  She looked up at him and recited it:  “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

“Amen!  The sinless Messiah had come down from Heaven unto this Earth to be born a man,” said Flanders.

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Heidi Hallstrom went on to say, “And the second one that I always think of is Isaiah 7:14.”  He searched the Scriptures, turning back a page, and found it.  Her pretty eyes looking into his eyes, the young woman recited it:  “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign;  Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

“Immanuel,” he said in definition, “which is, being interpreted, ‘God with us.’”

“And the third Christmas carol prophecy in the Old Testament that I always think of is Micah 5:2, prophesied seven hundred years before it happened.” said Miss Hallstrom. He looked it up, and as she recited it, he read it out loud with her:  “But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

“Bethlehem,” said Flanders, “where the Messiah was born into this world.”

Heidi looked down into the jet of fountain before where they sat.  She said, “Flanders, I wanted to share last Christmas with you, if I could have found you.  I was one year old in Christ then.  But I was afraid that you would say, ‘No,’ to me again and break my heart again.

“I am sorry, Heidi,” he said, himself already saved by that time of last Christmas for a few years.  “I’ve missed you since our days together at the grocery store.”

“How come you left me?” she asked.

“I was already with another,” he said.  “But now I know that she never loved me.”  The edges of her jet black shaker sweater extended outward beyond her shoulders an inch or two as shaker sweater vests did, and its fabric of acrylic touched him on his own shoulder on his upper sleeve.

“There was another girl then for you?” asked Miss Hallstrom.

“The wrong girl for me, Heidi,” he said.

“Was she pretty?” asked Miss Hallstrom.

“She was beautiful,” said Flanders about the old Collie dog once in his life.  Heidi was opening

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up a Pandora’s box with these questions about that Zack.

With the sagacity of a woman born again herself, Heidi Hallstrom asked him, “Did she have anything to do with you getting saved or not getting saved, Flanders?”

“Why, yes, Heidi,” he said.  “Because of her, my search for Christ was delayed twelve years.”

“You were too busy with her to start thinking about Jesus, I bet,” said most wise Heidi Hallstrom.

“Yeah.  You are right on the head, Heidi,” he said.

“And she you did love; but me you only did like,” she said.

“How did you know?” he asked.

“I’m a born-again believer now,” she said.  “I see things like my God sees them.  And you do, too, Flanders.”

“Yes, I do, now, Heidi,” he said.  “But you have no clue about how bad this girl was.”

“Was she real bad, Flanders?” asked Miss Hallstrom.

“She was a dog,” he said.

“The girl’s a dog?” asked Heidi.  “But you said that she was beautiful.”

“She was a beautiful dog.  She was a Collie dog with white wings,  I do believe,” said Flanders in sincerity and credulity.

“Ah, Flanders.  She sounds like a devildog,” she said.

“Heidi, you say things at once that it had taken me years to figure out about her,” he said.

“Did you give her a name?” asked Heidi.

“She called herself, ‘Zack,’” said Flanders.

“Sounds like names of demons from The Screwtape Letters,” said Miss Hallstrom.  “C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape and Wormwood and Toadpipe and your pretty big Zack.”

“If she were not a real demon, and if I do not fully yet understand what Zack was, she was at the

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very least an imaginary beast who was my own false idol,” said Flanders in contemplation.

“Behind every false idol is a demon, Flanders,” said Miss Hallstrom.

“Aye, comely Heidi.  Because of Jesus, I was taken out of the jaws of a devildog and taken in under the wings of the Lamb of God,” told Flanders the gist of the testimony of his salvation three Christmases ago.  “My own so great salvation took place in a special period of time that I call ‘My Twelve Days of Christmas,’ Christmas Day itself both ‘My Twelfth Day of Christmas (which was the last day of my lost life) and also ‘My Most Early Day’ (which was my first day of my saved life.)  I have two Bible passages in the New Testament that tell me the most about those twelve days of conversion.  One is Luke 11:24-26, which says this:  ‘When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.  And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.  Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there:  and the last state of that man is worse than the first.’  When I was first seeking God’s truth in those twelve days, that was the first time in my life that I knew that my Collie called Zack was a demon and not an angel.  And I first believed that what I had to do to get to Heaven and stay out of Hell was to repent of my love for her and give her up and never let myself fall back in love with her again.  I did not know at first that

I needed Jesus to save me.  And this verse tells me that if I had given up Zack for her evil and had not gone on to seek Jesus for true salvation, that if the demon Zack did go out of me, seven other demons like Zack would then come and go into me in replacement of her.  And my spiritual state would end up worse than it had been with the one demoness.”  He went on to tell Heidi further at this bench by the little pool of the hotel, “And my other verse about my Twelve Days of Christmas is Acts 16:31, which says this, Heidi:  ‘And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.’  That was the verse wherein I credit Christmas Day of that 1990 to be the day of my conversion to Jesus Christ.  All my life with that Collie devil in all my love for her, I had come to evaluate all

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things that I did with her by how much they made me feel.  If I felt great and happy emotions about someone or something, then it was truth.  I loved Zack.  She loved me.  But in these most incipient days of my new life in Christ—indeed I had prayed the soul-saving sinners’ prayer just a couple or so days before that Christmas Day—I did not feel great emotions toward my newfound Saviour as I thought I should.  And I doubted the truth of my born-again conversion.  I simply did not feel saved, Heidi.  And I doubted my salvation.  But then I read Acts 16:31 in a little booklet my neighbor across the hall gave me.  And I saw those eternal words:  ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’  The booklet said underneath this verse, ‘The Lord did not say, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt feel saved.”’  And then I knew in my own words of that day, ‘I am saved, because I know that I am saved—not because I feel like I am saved.’  A better way to put it now is to say, ‘I am saved by faith—not by feelings.’  And here I am today, born again and living for God and on my way to Heaven someday.”

“Praise the Lord for the Christmas wherein you got saved,” said Heidi Hallstrom.

“Praise the Lord for the Christmas wherein you got saved, Heidi,” said Flanders.  “Would you tell me about it?”

“Uh uh,” she said, shaking her head.  “Not right now.”

“But you did get saved.  Didn’t you, Heidi?” he asked.

“I did indeed get saved,” she said, turning her pretty face away from him.

“And your first day of salvation was like mine—on Christmas Day, just a couple years later,  Wasn’t it, Heidi?” he asked.

“Yes.  It was,” she said.  “That was the greatest decision I made in my life.  And I shall never regret it.”

“And you love to sing Christmas carols.  I can tell because of your other book you brought with you besides the King James Bible,” said Flanders.

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“No, Flanders, I used to love to sing Christmas carols,” said Heidi, sorrowful.  “But I have since fallen out of love with all of my carols.  All one hundred of them I had sung so much that they all got old and boring to me.  My carols have run dry.  And part of me is dead now inside.  What can a girl say to a mighty Christian like you when she has fallen out of love with Christmas songs?”

“You did?” he asked.  “That happened to you?”

She nodded.  She sighed.  She said. “I still love to read the Christmas story in Matthew chapter one and chapter two and in Luke chapter one and chapter two.  I still love all the Old Testament prophecies about that first Christmas, as you could see earlier on this date.  And yes, I still love to talk about what Christmas is all about in the eyes of Jesus. But for me to sing another carol, my heart now says, ‘Not another carol.’”  They all used to be so exciting, so spontaneous, so fervid.  But they all slowly got less and less so.  And now I no longer sing about Christmas with my once-wonderful green and red book I brought with me today.”

“Where were you going tonight with your book of carols and your Bible?” he asked.

“I was going to the library,” she said.  “I was going to look for a book with carols of the world that might make me feel good.”

“Worldly Christmas carols, Heidi?” he asked, troubled.

“Yeah.  I know.  Bad idea,” she said.

“Santa Claus Christmas carols?” he asked.

“Yeah, songs about Santa Claus,” she said. “But then I saw you.  Now I will not go there.”

“Something is definitely wrong in your walk with Christ, Heidi, that things have come to this for you,” said Flanders.

“I daydream and try to get back the magic of my old life with the carols about Jesus,” she said.

“I lost hope trying to do that, Flanders.”

“You can only remember your good old days of carols,” he said. “And you lost hope about ever

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getting them back.”

“Yes,  Flanders.  I lost the most precious worship of God when I lost my dear carols,” she said.

“Jeremiah 5:25 could possibly have the answer, if I dare read this verse to you,” he said.

“You won’t hurt my pride, Flanders.  My pride is not as important as my love for Jesus,” said Heidi Hallstrom.  “What’s it say to me?”

And he read to her, “Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.”

“Iniquities…sins?” she asked, breathing out a breath of hope.  “Could it be my own fault?  What if all I had to do to get my book of carols back in my life as it was before was to repent of a transgression?”

“Would you do it?” he asked.

“Oh, for sure!  I would do anything to sing from my book again, Flanders.” she said hastily.

“No matter what, Heidi?” he asked.

“No matter what, Flanders,” she promised.

“It might mean stopping from doing something that you don’t want to stop doing,” he said.

“I’ll go and stop it,” she vowed.

“It might mean starting to do something that you don’t want to start doing,” he said.

“I’ll go and start it, Lord!” she prayed up to Heaven.

Just then a young woman’s voice called out, “Heidi, is that you?”  Flanders looked up and saw a  girl about Heidi’s age coming out of the door of the dining area of the hotel.

“Holly!” called back Heidi.  “Holly Hendricks!”

“It is I, Heidi!” said Holly.  “We haven’t seen each other since our days at De Pere High.”

The two best friends ran up to each other and hugged and exchanged most happy felicitations.

Heidi said, “What are you up to now?”

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And Holly said, “I am studying at St. Norbert College.  Come and visit me at Burke Hall if you could.”

“I will,” said Heidi.

“What happened for you since our days as De Pere Redbirds?” asked Holly.

“Oh, I got born again, Holly,” said Heidi.

“Can I get born again, too, like you, Heidi?” asked Holly, curious about such things of God that happened for her best high school friend.

Suddenly Heidi’s face turned pale with shyness.  And her tongue went dumb.  And her eyes turned down to the ground at her feet.  And her face then turned red with embarrassment at herself.

And she turned her back to beloved Holly.  And she coughed and cleared her throat and swallowed hard.

“Heidi.  Are you all right?” asked Miss Hendricks.

“Yes, Holly,” said Heidi.  “I am all right.”

“Did I say something wrong?” asked Holly.

“No and yes,” said Heidi.

“I’m sorry,” said Holly Hendricks.

“That’s okay,” said Heidi.  “That’s all right.”

“Maybe I should go now,” said Holly, upset.

“I’ll come and visit you at Burke Hall,” said Heidi.

“Yes. Do that,” said Holly.  And Miss Hendricks walked away from Miss Hallstrom.

“Dear God, I did it this time,” prayed Heidi, alone with Flanders again.

Flanders said, “You had a great opportunity to tell her about Jesus, Heidi, and you fell right to pieces.”

“Yeah.  I did.  Didn’t I?” said Heidi.

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“How come?” he asked.  “Your best friend has a soul that Jesus died for.”

“I never could go and witness to a lost soul about the Saviour before, Flanders,” confessed Heidi Hallstrom.

“You were bold and sure with me tonight with your witnessing,” he said.

“Yeah.  You were my first one I did anything like that with before, Flanders.  I was preparing myself for that for a whole month.  And suddenly there you were on the bench.  Before I knew it, I began to try to win your soul.  And if I had not found out right away here that you were already saved, I would surely have gone to pieces as I did with Holly,” said Heidi.

“You are timid about sharing Christ with the lost, but you are bold about sharing Christ with the saved,” said Flanders.

“Yeah.  I can see now that I am,” she said.

“You seem to be afraid of what a lost person might think if you began to tell him or her about the Saviour of the world,” said Flanders.

“About what they might think.  And about what they might look like in their face.  And about what they might say to me,” said Miss Hallstrom.

“You’re afraid to offend a lost sinner,” he said.

“They might not like me anymore,” she said.

“You like the praise of men more than you like the praise of God,” he said.

“I am more afraid of people than I am of the Lord,” she said.

“You are ashamed of the God Who saved your own lost soul, Heidi,” he said.

“I’m a wretch of a believer.  I know, Flanders,” she said.

“And Holly is still lost and on her way to Hell,” he said.

“Oh, Flanders, would you go there with me to her dormitory room and tell her about Jesus right now?” asked Heidi.  “I don’t want my best friend to go to Hell.”

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“No, Heidi.  That is something that the Lord would have you to do,” said Flanders.

“But I might lose her as a friend,” said Heidi.

“Would you prefer to lose her to the Devil?” asked Flanders.

“But I never did anything like that before—lead a lost soul to salvation,” cried out Miss Hallstrom.

“We born-again Christians are called upon to bear fruit,” he said.

“Oh, how I wish that I could sing again an old-time Christmas carol right now,” she lamented in self-pity.

“Why, Heidi!  That might be it!” he said.

“What’s it, Flanders?” she asked.

“Maybe the reason that you cannot sing carols anymore is because you have never witnessed to anyone about Christ,” he said.

“No,” she said.

“Maybe,” he said.

“Do you think maybe that God took away His hand of blessing from me with my carols because

I have sin in my life of not winning any souls?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he said.

“Yes,” she said.

“If that is the case, Heidi, repent and get your carols back in your life,” he said.

“I must need to try and win Holly’s soul tonight to sing again about Christmas,” she said.

“We do not know for sure, Heidi,” said Flanders.  “Only God knows for sure.”

“God knows for sure and now I know for sure, Flanders,” said Miss Hallstrom, convicted of her sin that so easily beset her.

“What are you going to do about it with God?” asked Flanders.

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“Flanders, would you go with me to her dorm room, and I will do my best to lead her to the Lord?” asked Heidi.

“That the Lord could have me to,” said Flanders.  “I can go with you and be the silent prayer partner as you witness to her.”

Grabbing his hand, she said, “Let’s go before I chicken out and change my mind.”  The college was just on the other side of the Claude-Allouez Bridge that joined this east De Pere to that west De Pere.  They simple had to walk across the bridge that crossed the Fox River.  He stood up.  His arm was pulled outward where he stood.  She meant business.  And they both began to run, her leading the way, herself on fire both for carols and for Holly, but maybe more now for Holly.  And very soon after, both breathless with sprint, they came to Burke Hall the residence hall by the river.  Miss Hallstrom had not stopped to think that she did not know Holly’s dorm room number and that there were many dorm rooms in Burke Hall with its basement and its three above-ground floors.  And Flanders wondered which half of the coed dormitory were the men’s side and which half of the coed dormitory were the women’s side.  But God worked it all out for them.

For, behold, just as the runners got there, the walker Holly had just arrived there and about to open the main door to Burke Hall at the top of the cement porch to go in.

“Holly!” called out Heidi.

“Heidi!” called out Holly, turning around with gladness.  And the two young women hugged, Heidi gasping for air from her sprint.

“You must have run,” said Holly.

“I’ve got something very important that I have to tell you,” said Heidi.

“What is it?” asked Holly Hendricks.

New at this soul-winning life, Heidi tentatively said, “I’ve got to tell you how I got born again.”

Her wind was coming back now.  And she hesitated.  And she wavered.  And she doubted.  Flanders

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Nickels prayed now for the two women in silence.

And Holly Hendricks said, “How did you get born again, Heidi?”

And Heidi became bold, open, and sure.  And Heidi Hallstrom gave the testimony of her salvation for her first time to an unbeliever:  “It happened for me on Christmas a year-and-a-half ago.  If there is such a thing as a fortunate accident, well, that happened to me, and only God can make such a good thing out of a bad thing.  All of us of our family were at High Ledge City Park in the winter of night, and the snow was falling, and the evening was warm for late December.  Lots of other people of the city were there also.  Everybody was having fun rolling big snowballs and building big snowmen and throwing snowballs and making forts and sledding and tobogganing down the hills.  I myself had brought my red plastic sled.  That was the same sled that I had in Aurora when I was in grade school.

As a girl in Aurora, my yard had hills front and side and back perfect for sledding.  But what did I do instead of sledding down the hills as a girl in Aurora?  I went ahead and surfed down the hills in Aurora, endeavoring to stay standing up in the sled all the way down to the bottom of the hills.  I never did do well at that despite all my winters there in that big country yard.  Well, at High Ledge City Park, all the sledding hills were long and steep and not all that safe for sledding.  I remembered when I was a girl.  Now I was a young woman.  And the woman wanted to be a girl again.  And I set up my red plastic sled at the top of the most precarious sledding hill.  And I stood up upon it, my feet apart, my body sideways, and my arms outward and my face forward.  No one saw me doing this.  And I began to surf down this hill on my sled.  Well, that was the accident that I was referring to.  Very quickly my sled began to go as fast as a snowmobile goes in the snow.  I felt the wind in my face and in my belly.  I saw myself going past everybody else real fast like in a car on the highway.  And I trembled in the cold wind that I was making for myself with this speed down the hill.  Then Little Sister called out to me, ‘Heidi, look at the cute guy looking at you!’  A cute guy was looking at me?  Was he real cute?  Was I pretty?  Where was he?  And I turned my head around to see if I could see my Christmas admirer.  The

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last thing I remembered was Big Sister saying to me, ‘Heidi, look out!’  Then BANG!  And everything went dark.  I was knocked out cold in a collision.  When I came to, I found myself laid out upon a picnic table on my back, and everybody at that park were all standing around me with concern on their faces.  Somebody had carried me to this picnic table.  In a daze, I asked, ‘What happened?’  And they all started to answer at once, and I could not understand what they were all saying with this chatter.  My head began to clear up, and I said, ‘What?’  Then a handsome young man brought me a hot cup of cocoa, and he helped me to sit back up, there on the tabletop of the picnic table.                                   He said to me, ‘Miss, you ran into a great big snowball with your sled.’  Those words I did understand.

I then asked, ‘Is my sled all right?’

My benefactor said, ‘It is all right.’  I sipped some cocoa and found strength and sat up on the edge of the picnic table.  I was now fully conscious.  He asked me, ‘Are you all right, miss?’

“I think I am,’ I said.  ‘I feel okay now.’  And then everybody left except for this kind stranger and all my family.  And this was the part where the accident became fortunate.

This kind handsome fellow said to me, ‘Sorry for having distracted you from your ride.  I was the ‘cute guy’ who was looking at you.  Can you forgive me?’

‘I forgive you, sir,’ I said.  ‘One can say that I fell for you.’

All of us at this picnic table laughed.  Then he said, ‘My name is Proffery.’

And I said, ‘And my name is Heidi.’   Things were turning romantic a little.  And my family left for me to be alone with him.  And Proffery sat beside me on top of the picnic table.  But instead of talking flirts at me, he went on to tell me all about the Lord Jesus of all people, and how everybody needed Him to be their personal Saviour to that they could go to Heaven in the life to come.  And I listened to his every word, knowing that he was teaching me truth that I needed to hear.  And not too long later that Christmas night at High Ledge City Park, good and gentle Proffery led me through the

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sinners’ prayer unto my own salvation.  That was how I became a born-again believer, Holly.  I then became silly and asked, ‘Where did my sled go?’

And he said, ‘It is underneath the great big snowball that you crashed into, Heidi.’  We both laughed at my misadventure.  He then rolled the huge snowball over and off of my sled.  And he said, ‘Be more careful next time with your sled.’  We both laughed again.  I then turned around to drink down the rest of my cocoa.  And it was cool now at the bottom.  And then I turned back, and, lo, my Proffery was gone!  And I began to wonder if he were an angel of God sent to lead me to salvation.

Either way, whether man or angel, good Proffery was my messenger from Heaven that wonderful Christmas Day night.  That is how I became a born-again Christian, Holly.”

“Saying the sinners’ prayer got you saved, Heidi?” asked Holly Hallstrom.

“Uh huh, Holly,” said Heidi.  “That’s how a lost sinner can obtain the free gift of eternal life.”

“What is the sinners’ prayer?” asked Holly.

“That is where a lost sinner prays and asks the Lord to save his or her soul,” said Heidi.

“Can I do it?” asked Holly.

“Anybody can do it,” said Heidi.

“Can everybody do it?” asked Holly.

“Everybody should do it,” said Heidi.

“Do all do it?” asked Holly.

“No, only a few do it,” said Heidi.

“Could you help me to do it?” asked Holly.

“You mean to lead you through the sinners’ prayer line by line?” asked Heidi.

“I don’t know all that I need to say to pray the right prayer to get me saved,” said Holly.  “This is all brand new to me.  But I believe everything you’re telling me, Heidi.  Maybe you can help me say say the right kind of words.  I promise to mean every word that you have for me to pray after you.”

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“All of this so quickly,” said Heidi with doubts about her soul-winning ability.

“You must have done something like this for lots of others lost like myself, Heidi,” said Holly.

“I never did anything quite like this before, Holly,” said Heidi, stumbling upon her words of witness for Jesus.

“Oh, let me be your first one that you get born again,” said Holly.

“How does it go now…that sinners’ prayer that I had prayed for myself,” said Heidi, falling into confusion and great uncertainty.

“You can do it, Heidi,” said Holly Hendricks.  “You’re born again.”

“What do I say?  How can I help you?  I’m afraid to do it wrong for you,” said Miss Hallstrom, failing for the soul of her best friend Holly.  And Heidi fell apart and stood there and said not another word.  And Holly’s soul was slipping away from so-imminent salvation through the witness of Heidi Hallstrom now in a panic.  And the man Flanders silently prayed to God for what God would have him to do now in this crisis.  And the Lord answered his prayer with three Bible verses that Flanders knew about that he now needed to encourage Heidi in right now.

And Flanders shared the first of these three Scripture verses with his Miss Hallstrom right now by memory:  “Heidi, in I Thessalonians 2:4, God says, ‘But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.’”

Encouraging herself in the Lord, Heidi went on to confess the message of this soul-winning verse to herself, saying, “I know the Gospel means that Jesus died for our sins and arose from the grave on the third day.  God trusts me to spread this saving Gospel to everyone else.  And I must tell about my Saviour to Holly right now—but not in a way where I am afraid to hurt her feelings or to offend her; but rather only in the way where I can make God happy.  Witness-warriors must witness to the lost in a way that pleases God and not in the way that pleases men.  The God of salvation tries the hearts of his soul-winners whether they want to win souls for Him or not.  I must not be afraid of man or woman

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or boy or girl when I spread the Gospel of salvation.”

Next Flanders built up Heidi in the faith by sharing with her the second of the three Scripture passages that God had told him to tell her right now, saying, “And, Heidi, in Exodus 4:10-12, God says in His Word, ‘And Moses said unto the Lord, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant:  but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.   And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth?  Or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?  Have not I the Lord?  Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.’”

In Holy Spirit wisdom, Heidi went on to preach this verse to herself in words of encouragement to herself in the Lord:  “Moses was too afraid to tell mighty Pharaoh what God wanted him to tell him.

Moses said, ‘I am not a good talker, Lord.  I never was before.  Nor am I now.’  But God had this to tell timid Moses, ‘Who do you think it was Who made the mouth of man?  Who do you think it was Who made your mouth?  Was it not I?  Now go and talk to Pharaoh.  I will be with your mouth.  And I will tell you what I want you to say to Pharaoh.  I will help you to speak to him.  I am God.’  My own mouth with which I am too shy to tell Holly what God wants me to tell her—my own mouth was made by the same God today as the God of Moses’s day Who made Moses’s mouth.  The Lord Who made my mouth and lips and tongue can help me to tell my best friend the words of God for her lost soul.”

Without giving Heidi any time to fall back upon bashfulness, Flanders quickly went on to tell her the third verse that God wanted him to tell her:  “Further, Heidi, God says in Acts 1:8 all of this:

‘But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:  and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.’”

And in Holy Spirit discernment, Miss Hallstrom said about what this verse did say in most conclusive encouragement in the Lord in her heart:  “I can see now that it is the Holy Ghost, which is the Third Person of the Trinity of God, that does give the witness-warrior the power to witness about

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Jesus the Saviour of the world to the lost and dying world.  The Holy Spirit gives a woman like myself

the power and the boldness and the compassion and the wisdom and the opportunities to tell others about this Saviour of lost souls.  And with the Holy Spirit indwelling me and now speaking to me and now giving me power from Above, I now am ready to lead my best friend to Christ.”

Ready for salvation, Holly asked, “What do I need to know before I go and pray, Heidi?”

Heidi said, “You need to know that you are a sinner on her way to Hell who cannot save herself.”

“I believe that!” said Holly.  “I heard that only Jesus saves.”

“And you need to confess the Gospel message,” said Heidi.

“I know what that is now—that Jesus died for me and rose again,” said Holly.  “I do believe that for sure.”

“And you need to pray and ask God to save your lost soul to the uttermost, Holly,” said Heidi.

“I am completely ready to do that, Heidi,” said Holly.  “Would you lead your best friend now through that prayer as God will help you and me?”

“Let us begin,” said Heidi Hallstrom, now sure in her witness and words and trusting in God with her heart and soul and spirit and ready in the Lord to be used of Him to win her first soul to Christ.

The three here in front of Burke Hall in the late night now bowed their heads in prayer.  In his silent prayer, Flanders prayed that no one come and interrupt this most vital sinners’ prayer right now.  And in

verbal prayer, Heidi led Holly line-by-line:  “Dear God in Heaven:  I have sinned all of my life.  And right now I am sorry for all of my sins.  I ask You now to forgive me for all of them.  And I ask You to cleanse me from my filthy dirtiness from all of my sins.  I confess now that Your Son, Christ Jesus, died on the cross for my sins.  And I confess now that this same Lord Jesus arose from the dead on the third day.  I ask You now, O Jesus, to become my own personal Saviour from Hell.  And I ask You now to give me everlasting life in Heaven.  Thank You, God, for saving my soul right now.  In Jesus’s name

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I pray thus.  Amen.”

Holly Hendricks thus finished her sinners’ prayer.  She was now born again.  And now she was on her way to Heaven instead of on her way to Hell.  And Heidi Hallstrom had just won her first soul for Christ.  And she felt the joy of Christmas carols back in her heart like a gentle west wind in this warm humid night.  Yes, Heidi could sing a carol once again with great wonder and marvel and joy in the Lord.  Yet, as good as this felt, the work she had done in the Lord on the soul of her best friend did feel even better.  She and Holly fell upon a best friend hug here, and Holly kept saying, “Thank you, Heidi,”

And Heidi kept saying, “Thank you, Flanders.”

And Flanders kept saying, “Thank You, Lord.”

And the three rejoiced in the joy of the Lord over the soul won for Christ.

Then the women drew apart.  Holly Hendricks said, “I’ve got to go and tell my boyfriend what great things that Jesus has just done for me.  We’ll get together again, Heidi–lots now and all the time.

We can get together and have what I heard born-again believers call ‘fellowship.’  I love you, Heidi!”

“I love you, too, Holly!” said Heidi.

And Heidi Hallstrom and Flanders Nickels were alone together now in front of Burke Hall.

Flanders said, “Very well done, girl!  Amen!  Great job!”

“Thank you for letting me lead in her prayer, Flanders,” said Miss Hallstrom.

He said, “Shall we go back to the Union Hotel fountains and sing Christmas carols together, Heidi?”

“Oh, right now I cannot wait till we get there to sing a carol, O Flanders,” said Heidi.  “I want to sing again one right now.”

“I can hold your Bible and you can hold your book of carols if you want to sing here,” said Flanders.

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She handed him her Bible, and she held her book of carols, and she said, “I memorized lots of my carols, Flanders.  I can walk back across the bridge and sing them all by memory on our way back to the fountains over there.”

“Would you sing a certain Christmas carol just for an old admirer, Heidi?” asked Flanders.

“I can sing a certain Christmas carol for a new admirer, Flanders,” said Heidi.

“Would that new admirer be the same man carrying a torch for you as the old admirer?” asked Flanders.

Not saying, “yes,” with her tongue, but saying, “yes,” with her eyes, she said, “Which carol would you like your new girlfriend sing for you?”

“The same one that I would like my old girlfriend to sing for me, Heidi,” he said.

“Would that old girlfriend be the same woman as that new girlfriend, Flanders?” asked Heidi Hallstrom.

Saying, “yes,” both with his tongue and with his countenance, he nodded his head in great affirmation.

“Which Christmas carol can I sing for you?” she asked as they began their walk back.

“I would like to hear ‘Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing!’” said Flanders Nickels. “To me that is the Christmas carol that I will get to hear the angels of Heaven sing in Heaven’s skies above when I get There and be There everlasting.”

“I warn you, Flanders,” said Heidi.  “My singing of that down here may not quite measure up to their singing of that Up There,”

“A pretty Christian girl like you will make it sound to me better than even a host of angels can make it sound,” he bragged on her.

“That’s flirtatious—what you said, Flanders,” said Heidi.

“Yes.  It is, woman,” he said.

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“And I like it, boyfriend,” said Heidi Hallstrom.  And as they began to walk across the bridge back to where they had come, she began to sing this Christmas carol for him as he listened in delights:

“1.  Hark! The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the new-born King;

Peace on Earth, and mercy mild—God and sinners reconciled!’

Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies;

With th’angelic hosts proclaim, ‘Christ is born in Bethlehem.’

Hark!  The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’

2.  Christ, by highest heav’n adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord:

Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of a virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, Hail th’incarnate Deity!

Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hark!  The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the new-born King!’

3.  Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace!  Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings, Ris’n with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die;

Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth.

Hark!  The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the new-born King!’

4,  Come, Desire of Nations, come!  Fix in us Thy humble home:

Rise, the woman’s conq’ring seed, Bruise in us the serpent’s head.

Adam’s likeness now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place:

Second Adam from above, Reinstate us in Thy love.

Hark!  The herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the new-born King!”

“That’s a pretty song sung by a pretty girl with a pretty voice,” Flanders said to her.

“I sang that carol to the most handsome fellow in De Pere,” she said.

“Do you feel like you would like to win more souls to Christ sometime down the road, O Heidi?” he asked.

“Yes, Flanders,” she said.  “I would like to do that again real soon,”

“On Thursday Evening Visitation, our little Baptist church goes out knocking on doors and giving out the message of salvation,” he said.  “Pastor sends us out in soul-winning teams of two.  And the men of the church go with the men of the church, and the women of the church go with the women of the church.”

“Can I go and knock on doors with the Baptist women this Thursday, Flanders?” asked Miss

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Hallstrom.

“Yes!  Pastor’s wife Emmy would be glad to have you come along,” said Flanders.

“This new thing for me, witnessing about Christ and leading souls to Christ…I tell you, Flanders, this is even more exciting than singing the good old Christmas carols,” confessed Heidi.

“I know!  I know!” he agreed.  “I have found in my Thursday Night Visitation with Pastor, that when I lead someone to Christ it is even better than reading the Bible, and it is even better than praying a good prayer, and it is even better than a great church service.”

“I believe it.  I has just happened for me back there at the college,” she said.  “It was the first time for me.  And I know fun Bible study and fun prayer and fun sermons, but this winning Holly’s soul like this was better than even any of that.  I believe it, Flanders.”

He remembered his own salvation in thoughts, and he said, “I’ve got a great mystery in my life that I never figured out all the years since I became a Christian, Heidi.”

“Do tell me.  Maybe God can give you the answer through me, Flanders,” said Heidi.

“You heard me tell you about how I got born again,” he said.

“Uh huh.  Evil Zack and all,” she said.

“Why do you think that Zack was so afraid of you in my life back in our old days when we were  both without Christ, when we first knew about each other, Heidi?” he asked.  “Do you have any ideas?”

“Oh that’s easy for a woman like myself to figure out, Flanders,” said Miss Hallstrom with the wisdom of a third party.  And she told him what she thought:  “Flanders, back in our unsaved days working together at the grocery store, if we had started dating each other, sooner or later you would tell your woman about your Collie.  And I would hear all the ways that you made spiritual love to her.  And I would have been scared to death of your supernatural Zack.  And you would scare me right to Jesus.

And I would have gotten saved.  And you would see the change in my life.  And you would see Jesus working in me and making me a good woman and no longer a bad woman.  And you would come to

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see Zack as an evil angel and no longer as a good angel.  And I would guide you right to Jesus.  And, behold, the demon Collie would have lost two souls to God.”

“That she-devil ended up losing both of us to God anyway.  Didn’t she, Heidi?” asked Flanders.

“Yes.  She did,” said Miss Hallstrom.  “Jesus was patient with us both.”

“And of great mercy and of great grace, Heidi,” said Flanders Nickels.

“Here we are, back again at our bench,” said Heidi.

“Shall we open up your book of carols here at the fountains and sing to God, Heidi?” he asked.

“Shall we instead tell others about Christ here at the little pool, Flanders?” asked Heidi Hallstrom.

“You mean like street-preaching?” he asked.

“I do think that that is what it is called,” she said.

“Yes, Heidi,” he said.  “Let’s preach Christ here in the street right now until there are no more people going by for the night.”

“Yes!  Let’s do it until we fall asleep here outside!” said Heidi Hallstrom.

“Amen, woman!” said Flanders.

“Amen, boyfriend!” said Heidi.

It is written about Jesus, “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd.”  Matthew 9:36.

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