January 4 – “Wrapping it up”

Beyond the usual time I spend every day on sermon preparation, I spent most of yesterday trying to wrap up all the loose Christmas ends.  That meant writing thank you notes for gifts.  That seems to be becoming a lost art these days.  Oh, not around here by any means though.  Chris won’t allow it.  She was very strict on our boys about it when they were growing up.  That, of course, translates into “she was very strict on me then and now.”  I do appreciate a little thank you.  Just a small taste of gratitude expressed sure goes a long way.  

I also tried to find just the right spot for some of the different gifts we received.  I am ready to hang a wooden cross on the wall by my desk.  It will fit perfectly right above a framed picture I have of the city of Jerusalem.  I found an open spot on our game shelf for the Catopoly game the Boyer girls gave me.  I find it suspicious that the game fit absolutely perfectly.  Almost as if someone – or some feline thing – did some rearranging to ensure a permanent residence.  Can’t trust those cats, you know. 

However, most of my day was spent flipping through one of those day by day calendar things I received from Lauren and Ed.  Every day has a different saying from a church marquee.  I made an extensive list of the ones I thought would fit onto the marquee we have at Seaside.  There are a bunch of them.  Want to hear a few? 

Some were clearly church related:

The True Triple Crown: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Read the Bible.  It’s user friendly.  Tech support available Sundays at 10

And one of my favorites:

They tried to bury us.  They didn’t know we are seeds

Others were philosophical or common sense or just plain fun:

Hold the door open for a clown.  It’s a nice jester.

We come from earth.  We return to earth.  And in between we garden.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

That’s enough for now.  You’ll have to drive by Seaside 50 times of so to see some more.

Psalms 20:4 says, “May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed.”

Father, thank you for those who gifted us this year, either with their abundance or with their presence and love.  Amen.