Poll Results

Thanks to all who took the time to vote on the poll, "Should we do A Family Christmas Next Year?" The final result: 27 "yes" votes and 7 "no" votes. Obviously, this is just a fun poll, but, as with all things, evaluations follow events. Thanks Kevin for your comments. Any other comments pro or con about doing A Family Christmas next year are greatly appreciated.

Good Things Happening

Just thought I would share with you a couple of good things that are happening. I know there are more, but I highlight these two.

First of all, for two consecutive Friday nights we have had some of our church members go out and do some street witnessing in Birkdale Village. This group is led by Russ Salerno. Russ led this group through the study course, "The Way of the Master" and what started as an end-of-study street witnessing event has turned into two consecutive weeks of it. Thanks gang. I would love to hear some reports of your experiences.

Secondly, in worship yesterday it was announced that we are emphasizing Reading Through The Bible in 2009. Everyone was invited to stop by a display in the main lobby of the Family Life Center to check out some resources, including the ones I mentioned on an earlier blog, to help individuals accomplish this goal. There is a sign up sheet at that display that says, "I commit to reading through the Bible in 2009." We had 20 people sign the commitment on the first day! If you did not stop by the display please do so. If you commit to reading through the Bible, sign the sheet along with your e-mail address. I will add you to a new e-mail distribution list I have created for all who commit so that we can encourage one another throughout the year and share with one another things that God is teaching us. I guess you could call it the RTB (Read Through the Bible) accountability group! If you have read through the Bible before, I would love to hear how meaningful that was for you. Send me a comment below.

Something to Do Over Christmas

I ran across something that I had forgotten that I had done several years ago. It was a note stuck in one of my One Year Bibles, and after I read it, I thought this might be a meaningful exercise for people to do over Christmas, especially if you are creative. What I found written on a post-it note was a personal Psalm I had written to God. A psalm is a song written to and about God. I patterned my psalm after the psalms in the Bible. The exercise causes you to think about God, who He is and what He has done, and about yourself. Whenever you stop long enough to think about these things, you realize how blessed you really are. I can think of no better time to reflect on these things than at Christmas. I hope you will attempt this and if you do, I hope you will share it with me. Send it through the comment box below. Here is mine, written at a specific moment in my life. I was single at the time and was a guest minister one weekend at a church staying in some one's home:

"Lord, you know all about me. You know even more about me than I do. That is such an awesome thought!

Today, I sit here in some one's house I just met yesterday. My parents don't even know where I am. My church doesn't know where I am.

You do -- You are here.

I'm so glad you are wherever I am.

Because of this difficult to fathom principle, I am humbled. I worship you!

Search me, cleanse me, make me who you know me to be!"

Have a Blessed Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!