Happy new year! Are you ready for 2018!
We had the most well attended Christmas services that we've ever had at LICL. Honestly, I don't know where all the cars were parked for our 7 pm service on Christmas Eve. The ushers worked hard to set up extra chairs for the overflow crowd. The music was wonderful and I was able to bring to conclusion my sermon series, "Moving Toward the Manger."
During that service, our Congregational President, Bill Stipp, gave to Pastor Marcus and me a Christmas gift from the congregation. One thing I can say about our church family - they are extremely generous! And it's not just at Christmas. Our church family supports Sherri and me every day of the year with their prayers, their words of encouragement, and their faithfulness in worship, study and service. This month I'm celebrating my 13th year of ministry with this congregation. Sherri and I praise God every day for the privilege of being a part of Life in Christ Lutheran!
The rest of the week between Christmas and New Year gave some time for us to celebrate the holiday with the entire family. My youngest daughter and her fam were here from Green Bay; combined with the rest of the kids and grandkids the noise level in our home reached airplane noise levels. Well, maybe not that loud but pretty close!
We began the new year with a trip to California. Our kids told their kids that their big Christmas gift was going to Disneyland. Sherri and I hadn't been there in about 30 years. Wow! How that place has changed! We spent two days there and the grandkids had a blast. But we were all pretty exhausted by Tuesday evening. From there we traveled south to Dana Point and spent parts of Wednesday and Thursday at the beach. Again, the kids had a ball. I find it interesting that you do not have to teach kids how to have fun at the beach. The minute we arrived the grandkids had out the buckets and shovels and the sand began to fly! The weather was unusually nice for the first week in January so we adults enjoyed chilling out in the sun while the kids had their fun.
This weekend we began our new worship schedule, adding a third service at 9:30 am. We had a band that played modern Christian music (and they were fantastic!). But it's not "a praise and worship service" as most understand the term. The music was built around and served the liturgy - God's Word. It is a unique service and I believe it compliments the two traditional services we have at 8 and 11 am. The schedule ran smoothly and their were not too many hickups, so to speak. Pastor Andersen's class did not have the video he had planned to use - for some reason the equipment, that worked on Saturday, would not work on Sunday. We will get that fixed.
I pray that you wonderful readers had a fine Christmas celebration and are looking forward to being on the receiving end of God's abundant and rich blessings. As the psalmist tells us, "Our times are in Your hand, O Lord." And there is no better place to be.
