Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
2 Timothy 2:22

The Nights the Hornets Attended Prayer Meeting

If you all have read any of my previous stories then you already know that the majority of my free time was spent roaming the woods and creek swamps, exploring and searching for all the good fishin' holes.

Down here in our part of the world we have an insect that most every one around here is very familiar with, and do their best to stay away from, a long way away from! That insect is a hornet. Their nest are suspended from tree limbs and look similar to a chinese lanterns. Rather than being lit up they will light you up, if your're foolish enough to mess around with a hornets nest. These nest, at least all of them that I personally have ever seen, come in two sizes: BIG AND BIGGER!

One day as I walked the banks of Bear Creek looking for a new fishin' hole, where one might be blessed enough to snag a good mess of stump knockers, warmougth, or brim. Some more of that mighty fine eatin'. Fried up good and crisp with a big plate full of hushpuppies, cheesegrits, baked beans and fried taters....mmmmmmm amight good! Make my mouth water just thinking about how good they are.

~~Being long winded is commom in L.A.~~

Getting back to the hornets nest, upon seeing that big ole hornets nest hanging on the tree limb, the wheels of mischief began to turn in my head. Being the mischievous person that I was, looking back now, I realize that many of the antics that I pulled and things done could have very easily caused injury and harm to people. At the time, to me , was just a way to have a lil fun. Alot older and wiser now, fun at the expense of another human being or animal is so very wrong and it will always come back to you one way or the other. We must all reap from the seeds that we sow. There just ain't now way around that fact.

Anyway...marking the spot on the creek in order to locate it again, my fishin' trip resumed. The good Lord blessed me with a nice mess of fish that day. I went home feeling real happy and proud of my catch, knowing that Mama would be proud of the fish as well.

The fish were cleaned and we had them for supper along with all the trimmin's mentioned earlier. Lay'n in bed that night the hornets nest and what I might be able to do with it was still running around in my mind.

Coming in from the field, on Tues. evening the idea hit me! All the churches in our part of the country had prayer meeting on Wed. nights. It was the middle of summer and hotter than a bankrobbers pistol. Very few people in the country had electricity and air conditioning wasn't even heard of. We just opened the windows and prayed for a breeze.

Wednesday finally arrives and I am getting all the evening chores done. I asked Pa, if I could go to the creek to fish and tie out some bush hooks before dark. All of this was part of my plan for the hornets nest. Pa said, it was fine with him if Mama didn't have anything else for me to do. The first part of my plan was coming to play. Mama kept paper sacks under the pie safe. I took one of the biggest I could find. A peck is what it holds, just the right size to hold a big ole hornets nest.

Back down at the creek I fished for a while waiting for the sun to go down and all the hornets to go back into the nest. Sneaking up and placing the sack over the nest and tying the top so they couldn't get out was pretty easy. But cutting off the limb that the nest was attached too was tricky; in order not to tear the sack open and turn loose a nest full of angry hornets. Getting back to the house through the woods carrying a sack full of hornets wasn't easy either!! I had to be very careful not to hang the sack on a snag or briar vine. Somehow I managed to get home without a mishap, and put the sack under the backporch.

After supper, on the pretense of going back to the creek to check my bush hooks, I retrieved the hornets from under the back porch and headed for Panther Creek Baptist Church, about two miles from the house. Upon arrival to the church, prayer meeting was under way. All the church windows were raised and the congregation was having a good time in the Lord.

Shaking the paper sack to insure that the hornets were stirred up and really mad, I tossed it through the open window and hid to watch. In a couple of minutes people were yelling and hollering and pouring out the doors and windows. Some of them using language that I'm sure they would have never used under normal circumstances. They never found out who did it, that was my good fortune. If I had gott'n caught I might not have survived. Many years later as a man, I confessed to the incident of the night the hornets went to prayer meeting at Panther Creek Baptist Church.

None of the pranks that I pulled while growing up in L.A., lower Alabama were done with any deliberate intention to hurt anyone, but children very seldom, if ever see or realize the danger in what they do to themselves or others. Children please listen to your elders and learn. They have walked the roads that you yet have to travel. Take their advice, listen to their instructions and thank God in heaven daily, that you have Mothers and Fathers that love you and want only the best for you. Just as your Father, God in heaven only wants what is best for you.

Author Bobby Gene Bottoms

© Copyright 2005 Bobby G. Bottoms

Special Thanks to Graphics by Irene