What Happened To December?

My last post was December 2nd. I had planned to post more blogs in December and then "Life Happens". My world got incredibly busy just when I thought December would be relative free to relax and enjoy the Christmas season. What was I thinking? How could I be so naive. After 30 years of life as pastor I should have learned that December is never, never, never a slow month in which to relax.
Someone who does not attend church and is outside looking in at Christianity asked me the other day what I did with my time (with the tone that it would be nice to sit around all day doing nothing.) This question got me reflecting on this fast moving December. After consulting my calendar and memory, here is the serendipity part of my December since my last post. The serendipity part of life is the "icing on the cake". The cake itself is our enduring, vital and vibrant time walking with our Lord Jesus. Without the "cake" life is filled with activity without eternity. So here is my "icing" of the past few days.

December 4 - Spent the day shopping for gifts for the church families.
December 5 - Went to Oklahoma City with my siblings to celebrate my little sister's 50th birthday. Attended a county western concert (Trace Atkins and Marlena McBride) which was lousy (I am no country western fan). What was fun during the concert was watching the updates of the Big 12 conference championship via cell phone! Who cares about Trace and Marlena when you have Nebraska vs. Texas to enjoy?
December 6 - Left OKC at 5:30 AM to get back to Valley View for church. CTC's Christmas banquet tonight. Spent the afternoon setting up for the banquet.
December 7 - Crashed in exhaustion from the weekend. (Morning only)
December 8 - Went to the movies to see The Blind Side. It is an excellent movie. Go see it when you get a chance.
December 9 - News of teen girl in church is pregnant. Next 9 days working with family through this crises.
December 12 - Memorial service for a precious lady in our church who died 3 weeks earlier.
December 13 -15 - Special services with Clay Nash here at CTC. What a great time of refreshing to have this man of God in our midst imparting life.
December 15 - Went target shooting with Clay and friends. The bad to this was it was 37 degrees outside with wind so that it was a little uncomfortable. The good was that I got to shoot my antique 1876 Springfield rifle for the first time. This was pretty cool (but not as cool as the weather!)
December 16 - Participation in CTC Christmas Caroling canceled due to emergency.
December 17 - Christmas shopping for Prison Fellowship's Angel Tree ministry. There are 13 children in the Valley View area who have a parent in a state prison somewhere in the U.S. The Valley View Fellowship of Churches took this on as something our churches would help with this year. 13 children divided by 3 churches is very doable without too much hassle.
December 18 - Supper at a home group and Youth Lock-In took up the evening.
December 19 - Officiate a wedding.
December 21 - Overnight birthday party here at the house with 9 girls celebrating Whitney Yosten's 16 birthday!

My eating habits have been shattered during this time. It is the holidays after all. At one point I ate 5 meals in a row and felt like a blimp doing it. I normally eat 1 big meal a day and snack the rest of the time. I had back to back meals at IHOP (supper and breakfast) during this 5-meals-in-a-row streak. The previous week I ate 3 meals at Los Mariachis Mexican Restaurant with different individuals. On the third trip to the restaurant I ended up ordering chicken fried steak. I did get a funny look when ordering this item at a mexican restaurant.

It has been fun remembering the life experiences of the past few weeks as I write this post. God is so good. In other news, my oldest daughter, Amanda was the featured artist in an art showing in Seattle on December 20th. The showing went really well and she was amazed at the interest expressed in her work. I am really proud of her.
This morning I put up bird feeders in my back yard so now the little winged creatures will have a merry feast for Christmas.

In case I do not blog (which I probably will not) again before Christmas, I wish everyone within earshot a very MERRY CHRISTMAS.

And remember - God is good, therefore life is good.

Blessings