Winter Wonderland

I know that many of you are so busy with preparations for Christmas, so I do appreciate you taking a moment to read. One of my favorite Christmas songs has always been Winter Wonderland. I think it's because I've never lived in a place that was a Winter Wonderland. Until now. We live in our own kind of Winter Wonderland. We wonder about a lot of things this winter. We wonder why. We wonder what we're going to do. We wonder what will become of our community. We wonder if our spirits can continue to be encouraged. Some of our community members wonder how they're going to pay the utilities for next month. Some of them wonder if they will just get better on their own, since their medical insurance has played out. Some of them are cold in their campers, unable to buy propane to fuel their heater, and they wonder what they'll do as temperatures sink. Some are on a boat and wonder when they will be able to finally have an apartment of their own again. It's our own version of Winter Wonderland. Today we unloaded an 18-wheeler first thing. It took all morning but we were grateful for the supplies that arrived. When I got back to the church building they were unloading a UPS truck with over 100 boxes of supplies sent from New York. Chris Lockhart was here today to deliver Port City's Christmas gifts to the community here. As usual he bought my lunch - and John Robert's. Someday I'm going to have to start buying his lunch! This afternoon the Christmas Rush began at Central as people began to come and receive the gifts given by Christians all over the nation. I saw a man wheel out two bicycles. I know two little boys who will be so happy to receive those! I saw mothers break down in tears when presented with a box full of gifts for their children. Overall, though, there was great joy as we passed along the gifts that came from others. This should continue through the week as we work through our 'adopt a family' list. On a personal note, Tonight we tried to do a little Christmas shopping but we got a late start. We were at the mall when it closed, at Wal-Mart when it closed, and didn't make it to Waffle House before it closed. Oh well ... guess we'll have to get an earlier start. Our van is ready at the shop, so we'll go get that first thing in the morning. Below: Bill (Senatobia, MS) and Patrick (Santa Clara, CA) prepare gifts to give away.