TheAnthem Miracle pt 2 "Snow in Phoenix"

SNOW IN PHOENIX…?

As fall arrived we had made many new friends of our near neighbors in Anthem. We hosted some get to know you gatherings and toured each other’s homes. Michele joined Kim in some weekly Bunko games with other ladies from the community. I begin to feel God wanted us to do something “Big” to impact our neighborhood and community. One evening I shared my idea with Michele and Ken and Kim to fill our cul-de-sac with seven tons of snow! I had contacted a vendor and the price was reasonable. Michele and I were willing to pick up the cost. Everyone was in! I also contacted a guy in the community who had a coffee and hot coca cart to see if he would come and provide drinks. Our church would provide the snacks.

PREPARATION:

We started getting the word out by telling our immediate neighborhood. We invited everyone! Since it was going to be a FREE event so invite we encouraged them to invite their friend’s. Two weeks out I printed out about 100 flyers and on a Saturday evening Ken, the kids and I went through our community and handed them out. We had about 20 flyers left over so we went to the next-door community and handed them out there. Our grand expectations were that about 50 people would show up and we would have a fun evening making new friends. I remember getting a call from the coffee cart guy and he asked me how many he should prepare to serve. I stretched my faith as far as I could and told him to prepare for 150. He said he would prepare for 200 just to be safe. I agreed.

On our walk back to the house I prayed with Ken that God would bring those flyers to life in our community and that people would be compelled to attend.

THE BIG SURPRISE

We spent all Saturday morning preparing for the event that would start at 6pm that evening. The snow guy arrived with his truck about 4:30pm and they started blowing 7 tons of snow in front of our homes. It was about 65 degrees in Anthem and snow was falling. The coffee cart guy arrived about the same time and started setting up in our driveway. We already had tables out with refreshments. The kids had worked on putting together candy canes with the candy cane story:

Christmas Candy Cane Poem about Jesus

Look at the Candy Cane

What do you see?

Stripes that are red

Like the blood shed for me

White is for my Savior

Who’s sinless and pure!

“J” is for Jesus My Lord, that’s for sure!

Turn it around

And a staff you will see

Jesus my shepherd

Was born for Me!

We planned to give everyone one of these Candy Canes. Just before 6pm parents started to arrive with their children. Some kids had sleds, others just stood with wide eyes in wonder at the massive snow mountain. It took a while to get them in play mode but when they got there you could hear the laughter and thrills for blocks.

The people kept coming, by 8:30 pm the snacks were depleted, the coffee and hot coca was all gone. We were running into the house to create new snacks fresh from our refrigerator. Anything we had to eat or drink was being carted out as fast as possible. We put a gallon of milk into a large pot to heat up to create more hot cocoa. People were still arriving. Cars were parked for blocks. My home was full of people upstairs, downstairs and in the backyard. I could not walk five steps before someone would stop me and say, I want to introduce you to our friends and neighbors. We started counting the people as best we could. A total form my backyard, upstairs, downstairs and in the cul-de-sac revealed there were more than 500 people gathered. No wonder we ran out of everything.