Leadership Christmas Party

We had our annual Church staff and leadership Christmas party this evening. It is always quite the exciting evening with our gift exchange. We play that you can take gifts from other people which can sometimes get a little rowdy. This year my pride cameth before my fall! Ryan and I sat next to one of Deacon's (Jerry) and his wife (Ginger, who is also on the Women's Ministry Board with me). I have known them since I was probably about ten and they are veteran Christmas party gift exchangers. I thought it would be quite advantageous to make an "alliance" with them so that at the end we would all end up with the gifts we wanted. There were three coveted gifts that received a lot of play. It was us veterans vs. the newbies, a new couple came to our party for the first time and they weren't shy about jumping in and fighting for the same gifts. As the evening wore on, I grew cockier and cockier because my alliance knew what it was doing, these other people were new, they didn't really know the subtleties of the gift exchange. We had it down until the last round and then, crash and burn! The new couple (well, actually just the husband, his wife left to relieve the babysitter so he was playing both of their parts) with the help of another veteran couple, retrieved the coveted gift and I was left to open the gift that I brought to the exchange! A good dose of humility with a lot of laughter thrown in!

Before this materialistic feeding frenzy, my Dad shared a devotional with us that was excellent. He talked about how exhausting it can be at times living the Christian life, especially if you are involved in ministry. He used the phrase, "letting your soul catch up to your body". I have felt like that often! He read us the first few verses of Psalm 23 and reminded us that God is our Shepherd who desires to have intimate time with us and that He will make us lie down in green pastures to get it. He pointed out that the pasture may not seem green to us at the time, but from God's perspective it is green because He knows the good that can come out of any situation. Whatever situation you are in, God is there and He desires you to look to Him and to spend time with Him. He talked about how God leads us to still waters. He likened that to the deep drinking from God's Word. It's opposite of the "read a quick Bible verse and then I'm done" mentality. He challenged us to get alone with God and spend real, quality time with Him, and then our soul will be refreshed. He said this all much more eloquently than I did, but it was a great reminder that I thought should be shared with everyone.