And To All A Good Night

Let me start off by saying I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas this year. We've certainly been busy around this Houston household, let me catch you up!


Let's start at last night, Christmas Eve. Kayla and I decided to go to a friend's church here in Houston (hey Bryan!). They did one of the coolest things I've ever seen done in a church service, let alone a Christmas Eve service. They started this running scroll on a screen with someone reading the words as they scrolled up towards the ceiling, the basic jist of the message was that Jesus was just an ordinary person, that all the Biblical testimonies were falsehoods and that Christmas doesn't really have the meaning that people ascribe to it, then this guy reading gets to the bottom and says something to the affect of "that's what I believed until I allowed Jesus in and He turned everything upside down," from that point, the scrolling words went in reverse and all the falsehoods were turned into truths as he read the same script backwards. It was really a great highlight of the service. The music was phenomenal, which isn't that difficult to do when you're associated with a fine arts academy as part of your community outreach. They did have a horn section on stage, and I really would like to be able to do that in a church setting at some point in my life. I think it would be great fun and a great way to use my talents to praise the Lord. Speaking of the "reason for the season...."


It gets really hard sometimes with all that goes into the Christmas season to remember why it's important in the first place, that God humbled Himself because of His great love for us and became fully human and yet fully God to die for my sins and save me from eternal separation from Him. That still blows my itty-bitty mind every year when I allow myself to think about it. How anyone can say that God is just some cosmic cop is one that misses the creativity in His plan to save all of mankind and reconcile us to Him. I don't claim to fully understand it, I'm just thankful He did it! I love singing the carols at this time of the year and we were so fortunate to be able to attend the Casting Crowns concert a few weeks ago and were really able to worship through those several carols we sang. It's sometimes tough for me to worship through Christmas carols because the words have become so familiar that I lose the power in them, and that was something that because I heard them in a new arrangement didn't happen this year.

Okay, so for the more superficial portion of Christmas, I was truly shocked this Christmas morn when, while I was sitting with Brenna helping her open her presents, I get one that is set before me that is obviously a box. In my head I'm thinking it's just a book or some clothes or maybe the shoes that were on my list. Let me set the stage a little more for you: for the past two to three weeks (although some would say it's been since before Thanksgiving), I have been a pain in the rump because I've been kidding about getting a Playstation 3. I've actually been kidding around quite a bit and just being annoying like only a middle child can. So anyway, back to this box. I tear off the paper and go into a little bit of shock because sitting in my lap before me is a brand new PS3! I still can't believe that I received one for Christmas. I'm sure the pictures that were taken of me when I realized what it was was a pretty good reward for those that worked so hard to procure one for me. I don't think it will match the Herbie car picture for those of you who know what that is, but I bet it came pretty close. I also received two games to go with it, one that I have talked about before, and one that I played a prequel to at my friend Billy's house and looks to be really awesome, but I have to exercise some restraint in my playing or I'm sure I'll get put on restriction! I'm only half-kidding about that by the way!

The Christmas season ended in a wonderful way for us this evening, when Kayla, I, her brother and his wife went out on a double date without kids to see Marley and Me. It was a fantastic movie, and since I haven't read the book in a long time, I thought it was very well done and stayed as close to the book as any movie can. We thoroughly enjoyed our time out together and look forward to getting to do it again really soon (hear that Mimi?!) Anyway, Christmas is now officially over and now all I have to look forward to are some special visitors from Georgia who I'm sure are trying their hardest to make it to us in an expeditious manner. I really can't wait to see them, and it really will be the best gift of the season to have them here for an entire week! Well, here I'll end this week's opus with a line from one of Brenna's current favorite books: Merry Christmas to All (you can look at the titel of this post for the rest!)