Community, Christmas and Vacation
These past few days (since Christmas) have been time to sit back, rest (I slept alot), eat (way too much too many times), be with friends and family, and enjoy some needed vacation from the church. Sunday morning the 31st Kim and I woke up and said, "So where should we go to church?" What a weird statement for us... because if we aren't at Hempfield we are either away with Youth or away on Vacation...so Sunday we went to Koinos Community Church in Reading where Brian Ross (a friend) is the Pastor. It was great worshipping with them.
Today...January 2 my son Kaiden turned 3....we went to the Park, ate at Isaac's, went to see Happy Feet, played and had dinner (including his favorite dessert.. Chocolate Zucchini cake) It was a perfect day.
Christmas was great to be with family and watch Kaiden really get into opening presents. But something has always nagged me about the holiday in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We seem to spend way too much money on gifts that don't last and not enough on gifts that will last and change a life. I watched a video by Chris Seay from Houston who challenged others to give gifts that will change lives. This got me to think about what my family could do to make a difference. We decided to begin a tradition called "Gift to Jesus" in which we pick a mission organization or humanitarian organization and donate money to it. I would encourage all of us to give (not only our money but our time as well)
The last Veritas Worship gathering in December was an amazing time of worship, interactive prayer, painting (thanks to Dave Weiss who painted during worship) and community. The Veritas team had gotten together without my knowledge and got me an iPod Nano (Product RED- which donates 10% of proceeds to fight the AIDS crisis in Africa.). I was extremely blown away by their generousity...but more than that for their amazing friendship and love. The card blew me away...to our Pastor and our Friend...the second one being more important than the first to me. Thanks again Veritas team....Kim and I are extremely blessed to have friends like you.
Today...January 2 my son Kaiden turned 3....we went to the Park, ate at Isaac's, went to see Happy Feet, played and had dinner (including his favorite dessert.. Chocolate Zucchini cake) It was a perfect day.
Christmas was great to be with family and watch Kaiden really get into opening presents. But something has always nagged me about the holiday in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. We seem to spend way too much money on gifts that don't last and not enough on gifts that will last and change a life. I watched a video by Chris Seay from Houston who challenged others to give gifts that will change lives. This got me to think about what my family could do to make a difference. We decided to begin a tradition called "Gift to Jesus" in which we pick a mission organization or humanitarian organization and donate money to it. I would encourage all of us to give (not only our money but our time as well)
The last Veritas Worship gathering in December was an amazing time of worship, interactive prayer, painting (thanks to Dave Weiss who painted during worship) and community. The Veritas team had gotten together without my knowledge and got me an iPod Nano (Product RED- which donates 10% of proceeds to fight the AIDS crisis in Africa.). I was extremely blown away by their generousity...but more than that for their amazing friendship and love. The card blew me away...to our Pastor and our Friend...the second one being more important than the first to me. Thanks again Veritas team....Kim and I are extremely blessed to have friends like you.
1 Comments:
Hey Ryan! Great to see you are active with a blog...that way I can keep up with what happening for you guys! Think about you often and wish we were nearer to each other.
peace,
martin
Post a Comment
<< Home