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Yellow Jackets

A few years ago I was mowing a lawn with an employee who would later become my wife. I own a small lawn service in Tell City, and we were about half way through the mowing season. It was mid-July, hot, humid, and miserable, you know what I'm talking about. I remember looking up and seeing a few puffs of fleecy clouds meandering across the cobalt sky and wishing that I was up there in the cool blueness. I turned my gaze back to the task at hand, wiped my brow, and realized that we were about finished. It was about two in the afternoon and we really wanted to be done with this yard and head for someplace with air-conditioning and cold beverages.

Sitting astride my Snapper riding mower I was going over a patch in the front yard. Leonna was pushing- mowing a slope nearby. I had just turned the mower around and was making my final pass when I felt it.

I had been stung by yellow jackets before and I knew immediately what was going on. Reaching down as quickly as I could I shifted the mower into park and was stung three more times in quick succession.

Quickly hopping off of the mower and I sprinted across the yard, away from the anger that befalls trespassers. Leonna saw what I was doing and came over to me. "Are you all right Jim?" she asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I guess so," I answered, grimacing. I was sure she could see the pain in my face.

After a moment of assuring her that I would be all right we both turned our eyes to the still running riding mower. It was covered with yellow jackets and a cloud of them hovered over the machine.

I had disturbed their nest by running over it and they were in defensive mode. There was no reasoning with these guys. It wouldn't be so bad but they had my only riding mower as hostage and I had a lot of work to do before my day was done.

We stood there for a moment weighing our options. Then Leonna said, "we need to pray."

One of the things that drew me to Leonna was her devout Christianity. I had been away from the Lord for a while and when I came back I was looking for someone just like her.

We stood there in that hot yard praying as cars whizzed by us. Over the years we have prayed many times like that, in public. I have often wondered what people who see us are thinking. Oh, devout Christians know, of course what we are doing and perhaps begin praying for us. It's the others that I wonder about. Do they think that we are all looking down at some fascinating item on the ground? It might be a good witnessing tool.

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