I mumbled a quick prayer that those traveling tonight would remain safe and hugged my threadbare coat tighter around my shoulders. Head down, I fought against the wind, marching ever closer toward my destination.

Leave it to me to get so caught up in my Christmas Eve sermon that I’d forget my cell phone right there on the pulpit! Lucky thing I did, though, because as I finally reached the front doors of the sanctuary, I discovered a most disturbing sight.

Our locally famous nativity scene had been on the fritz all week, but now the angels’ glowing halos had plum run out of power, casting the entire display into darkness. And on Christmas Eve, no less.

Ignoring the cold, which had found its way straight up underneath my clothes, I stepped closer to investigate the source of our power outage. Last summer old Mrs. Clementine had taken it upon herself to plant a little garden right outside the church. How could I say no to her request when she said all the food from our newly christened vegetable patch would be donated to feed the hungry?

And so with more than a little trepidation, I said yes, and unfortunately so did every little critter within a twenty mile radius. Even with the crops resting for the winter, I had no doubt that one of Mrs. Clementine’s rabbit friends had tried to make a home of Christ’s manger—and a snack of His power cords.

Upon closer inspection, I found that—yes, just as I’d suspected—a tiny ball of brown fluff had nestled into the nativity right there between Mary, Joseph, and the kindly shepherds who’d come to pay their respects.

Darn varmints!

Well, that’s what I wanted to think, but then I stopped myself. These poor creatures hadn’t expected the sudden snowfall either. They just wanted to get warm, and maybe God had sent me back to offer assistance on His behalf.

My toes began to go numb, but I tried to ignore that tingly sharpness as I stepped in for a closer look at the trembling animal.

Imagine my surprise when I found not just one creature, but five!

Right there next to the little Lord Jesus lay a mother dog and her four newborn pups. How they’d managed to survive this long was truly by the grace of God.

I didn’t want to leave them, but I couldn’t carry them all at once either. At least not on my own. After retrieving the box that our latest batch of hymnals had arrived packed inside, I stripped off my scarf and made a little nest. Then one by one, I lifted the mama and her puppies into the cardboard carrier and brought them into our church to get warm.

My lungs could scarcely take in a single breath of air until I made sure that each pup was alive and well. Only by the glory of God each of these tiny newborns moved just enough to show me they were okay. You must understand these dogs were hardly bigger than my own thumb. They could have easily been mistaken for rat pups if not for that brave mama dog.