We are entering the holiday season full force now.  Here is another year for us to try our best to get ready.  Perhaps some people actually get to a point where they are fully prepared but that is usually not my story.  My tendency is to find myself sometime in early January wondering where it all went.  This is one of the realities of life it seems.  We get so involved in what is going on in our world we cannot fully appreciate the gift of the moment.  I would say that sums up these last few weeks or months.  The calendar tells me of the busyness of that time but it is easy to miss all of the blessing.

We began a journey sometime in July that took us down paths never explored.  It all started innocently enough with a simple effort to offset the usual summer slump.  We just now concluded a four day revival emphasis that rotated among the four churches in our area.  No one can locate any record of this ever occurring in our town.  Not only did we meet every few weeks as a community but we also came together for revival.  It may well be that just this one event is a mark of God's activity in our midst.

My congregation also focused our attention on a strategy from the Billy Graham organization.  Our focus was to reach out to those who are unchurched.  It was a good time to do studies or sermons related to this topic.  My thought is it was also a good time to ask how are we doing in relating to such people.  Our results were mixed.  Maybe some got a little humility in realizing how poorly they do in genuine relating to the lost or unchurched.  We did see some results as a few made a conscious effort to share their faith.  God always seems to bless such endeavors beyond our immediate goal.  Right now my hope is to think or pray through all we did in evaluation.  Doing outreach is the norm of spiritual health and not the exception.

Now we shift to the holiday schedule.  Balancing between evaluation and seeking direction for the new year is a fine line at best.  Yet this is my hope for the next six weeks or so.  We cannot always be looking to the past but we cannot ignore it either.  Always looking forward sounds good but one can overlook important factors if that is all we do.  We learn to let go of the past because it has no desire to turn loose of us.  Thanksgiving is a matter of days away.  Christmas surely waits on no one.  Don't miss out on blessings from being distracted by demands.  Learn to enjoy each day as you uncover its riches of grace.  That would indeed be worth celebrating.

Bro. Trey