It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

With Christmas day less than a week away, the 'adopt-a-family' thing is coming together quickly. We had good help for the past few days from Starkville, MS and South Carolina. I think a lot of the gifts are assembled and ready to take to people (or have them come get them). Two groups brought in gifts today. The church at Elba, Alabama brought in gifts for families, including a gift for my family. Tim Gunnells and his beautiful family were here with them (he preaches at Elba). Also James Simmons brought a 20 foot truck full of presents down to the Coast that he shared with us and Biloxi and perhaps Picayune. I'm sorry I didn't get to visit with James like I wanted to. I want to ask you to pray for Carl and his family. Last week Cecil May III and I went to see Carl. Paul England, a contractor here, had alerted me that there was a health problem in his family. Carl told us that his daughter was terminal. We prayed with Carl and went to the hospital to see Melody. Unfortunately she had been moved and we were unable to locate her. The ICU nurses did not answer their page, which I took to mean that they were busy helping a patient. So today Tim Gunnells and I went back out to the hospital to pray with Melody. We were too late. She passed away early this morning. We then visited with Carl for a bit, and Tim prayed for him. I know Carl is going to have a hard Christmas. He and his family lived for weeks in a tent in his yard. Now he has a trailer, but he will need more than that to shelter his broken heart. Let's bathe this family in love and prayers over the next week or so. It's going to be a tough Christmas for most of us ... but especially for Carl. Thanks, Tim, for being a source of strength and encouragement to me today. Now Tommy Stewart has mentioned TWICE on HIS BLOG a comment that I made as a joke. He knows I'm winking at him even as I clarify. Tommy was in the auditorium sitting in a pew taking advantage of the wireless network in our building. I told him he couldn't do that while I was preaching! One of us said something about his writing a sermon and I said, "I'd hate to see the sermon you would write for your preacher to preach." To me, that means that I think Tommy has a mischevious spirit and would write a sermon with some opinions his preacher might not hold! But like all jokes you have to explain, it isn't funny. I really just wanted to highlight Tommy's blog and the last two posts that relate to the great work they did down here. They gave gifts to ten families, making Christmas a beautiful time for some folks who do not have much hope. They also took my family out to eat at China Garden, which Claire especially liked. Tommy led our opening prayer Sunday morning, and it was very heartfelt and got us off to a worshipful start. It was great to be around Derek and his family as well ... great people ... great friends. Also ... Tommy asked about my spiritual life ... I will write about that in an upcoming post this week. But while we were talking about that, Scott Owings came in and met us. He is the Minister of Spiritual Formation and Outreach at Otter Creek Church of Christ in Nashville. After we talked a while, he placed his hand on my shoulder and prayed on my behalf, and of the work here. This meant a great deal to me, as prayer is often neglected in this hectic setting. The VanSplinters will leave in the morning and go back to South Carolina. I really enjoyed this family and the family that came with them. A favorite slogan David and I have is, "I don't know your name." I think I'll make a button with that written on it! I feel terrible that I do not know Eric's entire family and the family that came with them. They worked hard organizing gifts and getting them ready to hand out. Eric and his co-worker did lots of sheetrock work here, and I know it was appreciated by the families they served. Patrick Grimes is here for the week from Santa Clara, California. He, his son, and a friend are already working hard to help us out. I hope to have a little time to get to know them. Also Jeff Holbrook is here from Pikeville, KY. Jeff was here back in the first days of the relief effort. As I have related, I do not remember much about those early days. But, I do remember a man coming up to my window as I was about to drive off. He gave me a handfull of cash, gas cards, and phone cards. He told me I would need them. He was right. That man was Jeff Holbrook. Glad to have Jeff back on the Coast for the week. Of course things will slow down and probably halt for a few days around Christmas. I hope to see a good number of visitors for Christmas Sunday. This week I re-read Alexander Campbell's "Musings on Christmas Morning", which I recommend. Print it out and read it out loud, taking your time. It is rich and beautiful. On a personal note, our van is still in the shop. We have gone almost two weeks on one vehicle and it gets hairy sometimes! Today we had a BUNCH of errands to do on top of the usual chaos. And I confess I didn't handle it all very well. Supposedly tomorrow the van will be ready and we'll be able to be less stressed! Tonight we had a lovely dinner at the home of Danny and Terri Dodd in Pensacola. Danny preaches for the Gateway church of Christ. Terri had a wonderful meal of chicken spaghetti, italian green beans, a broccoli salad, and coconut pie. That was several hours ago as I write this and I'm still full! I think I'm about to put some new pictures on my picture page and update our internet site (www.123Jesus.com). But it is after midnight ... and perhaps that will be for later on today, after some sleep. God Bless each of you. Thanks for reading such a long post. Below: A Great Helper Gets Central Ready For Christmas!