Christmas Eve

Today was fantastic. We had a lot of fun worshiping with our brothers and sisters at VBC today. The sermon prep was surely freed up from my own sinfulness as many people were convicted and encouraged by the message and in turn blessed my socks off as they encouraged me with their comments. One of the older men in the congregation actually shouted out "Excellent Sermon" and people applauded. I can assure you that I have never had anyone applaud one of my messages so that was, at first, a little bewildering and then VERY encouraging. I really felt like the Lord was moving among us as the Spirit, dwelling within us, was encouraging the Body of Christ at VBC. Our current Worship Pastor changed songs at the end of the message to something that flowed with the tone and rhythm of the message. It was a wonderful way to reply to God's Word and I was especially encouraged by it.

I wondered throughout today what the boys were doing? What does Christmas Eve look like in Ethiopia and how would they respond to a totally different culture here? I am also excited to have them hear me preach and to teach them the ways of God. The entire day was encouraging with a great worship time, great lunch with family and friends, a great nap, and great fellowship with Jennifer's parents. Emma and Granddaddy prayed some deep and worshipful Christmas prayers for us and we are ending the day with great anticipation for tomorrow.

I asked the girls if they were excited about opening gifts tomorrow fully expecting the child-like answer of YES! But instead I was promptly reminded by Kayla and Emma both, "Dad! Remember, Christmas is about Jesus' birthday and not about opening presents!" So I said, "Well, you can be a excited about tomorrow's birth and the presents." They both beamed, "Then yeah, we are excited!" They probably won't sleep a wink tonight.