The party, Sunday, this week

Mama and I attended the Christmas party Saturday evening and had a good time with my fellow employees and their significant others. Charcuterie boards were the theme for the snacks served. Our host and several other helpers loaded the boards with items each of us (twenty attendees) brought to the gathering. The boards were piled to overflowing with crackers, cheeses, meats, spreads, and fruits of all sorts. There was certainly something for everyone. 

Mama and I spent the bulk of our time with a young couple who are relatively new to the area. The husband, Clinton was hired by my company about three weeks ago. He and his wife, Shelby, spent several years working as chaperones for a Kenyan Children’s Choir as those choirs toured the United States. A very interesting story to tell. Shelby still works for the organization that sponsors those youth choirs to promote community awareness for the Kenyan bush tribes those children represent. That made for a very pleasant evening as we talked about missions across the world. Mama and I left shortly after the gift exchange, so we were home before 9 pm.

Sunday, we had an evangelist preaching in both services. He and his wife have run a youth camp in West Virginia for 46 years, so Mama and I got to connect with her West Virginia roots through the couple. They were delightful. During the Sunday School hour, he gave us a lesson on things that have been shaken and things which cannot be shaken. For many, this year has shaken their faith. It has certainly shaken our culture at home and abroad, but God is still in control and His Word cannot be shaken. He will keep all His promises, both for good and for judgement. 

Bro. Taylor spoke in the morning service about what it means to be lost. No joy, no peace, no hope beyond this life. Sometimes we as saved believers forget the precarious condition of those around us who do not know the Lord. It was a good reminder of the urgency of our mission to tell the Gospel story, because those who die without Christ will wake in Hell. And Hell is as eternal as Heaven. An unchanging condition of suffering, of torment, of loss. It was a brief, but powerful sermon. I am certain that in my past I have walked away from opportunities to present the Gospel to someone the Lord ahs placed in my path. I am looking for those opportunities now. Hoping to make the most of them rather than avoid them.

This week will be busier than I had anticipated. Two of the classes that I had assumed would be cancelled are still on the schedule. We had enough registrants for each class to move them forward. So, tomorrow I will spend the day doing a mock class with a coworker who wants to begin teaching classes. Wednesday I will be presenting a class to six persons at the conference center here in Decatur and Friday, I will be presenting an online class to four of perhaps five participants. I have not had a face-to-face class in months so I will have to get my presentation ready for that format. It is all good. I feel better when I am teaching, like I am earning my paycheck. I get fidgety when I have too long a stretch without teaching classes.

I will be off Christmas week. I am taking off Monday through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday are company holidays. I will have quite a bit of vacation to carry over into next year, but there was no real opportunity to use more time off than I have requested through this year. Perhaps, as the general populous gathers their collective voice and shouts down the useless and overbearing rules imposed on us in the ongoing fearmongering, there will be more opportunity to travel and enjoy life in a les restrictive manner than that which is now afforded to us.

It is reassuring to see the Democratic Governor of Colorado end mask mandates, stating that the pandemic is long over, and emergency powers granted to public health officials -who have overstepped those powers – are rescinded. That is a huge step forward. Away from the fear porn used to control behavior of those willing to submit. Now we wait for the vaccine mandates to be rejected at the legislative level and next we will start to hear how dangerous the “vaccines” actually are; how many people have been crippled for life by the vaccine; how many people have died as a direct result of getting the shot. Small steps toward our individual freedoms being once again recognized.

I am hopeful, but not overly confident.