Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

Archives for December 2007

Top 7 fo 2007 Blogs

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Here are the top 7 most read blog entries that I wrote since I began to blog at the beginning of October. I only included 1 “Inside Today’s Experience” and 1 “Random Thoughts” entry because they seem to be the most popular.

7. Gilbert “The Toolman” Thurston.   An entry about my mishaps with a
     mailbox and a moral of the story to cap it off.

6.  Random Thoughts on a Friday Morning.   You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll
     wish you had been there.

5.  168 Hours.  I explain what my first thoughts are most week’s when
     the Expereince wraps up.

4.  Lessons from the Blue Man Group.   Uhhh…what do you think this
     one’s going to be about?

3.  Happy Thanksgiving!  A list of things that I was/am thankful for in 2007.

2.  Inside Today’s Experience.  A recap of the first Experience in our new
     building.

1.  A Question For You to Answer.  Hmmm….the most read, but yet only 7
     of you so far have answered.  Looks like some of you need to create
     an account and get an answer in.

Top 7 of 2007 Podcasts

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Everybody does these type of lists, so why shouldn’t I.  Here are the most donwloaded and listened to messages in United for 2007:

7.  What Happens When I Die…from the series “Answer’s to Life’s Tough 
     Questions.”

6.  Rahab:  Breaking the Labels that Bind…from the series “Girls Gone 
     Wild Bible Style.”

5.  Living a Renovated Life…from the series “Extreme Makeover: You 
     Edition.”

4.  Minding the Business… from the series “Mind Your Own Business.”

3.  Perhaps…a stand alone message on the 5 year vision for United.

2.  Crazy… from the series “God Pod.”

1.  One Simple Truth…from the series “Extreme Makeover: You Edition.”

A Christmas Tradition

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This morning we exchanged gifts and then we participated in our annual tradition of eating Alaskan King Crab Legs for lunch.  Of course there are other things to eat but the 13lbs of crab legs are a hit with the guys.  Well gotta go eat dessert now, hope everyone is having a great week!

Wow is it hot here!

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  • Mid 70’s…ahhh, I love Christmas in Florida.
  • Was going to post a picture of me sitting by the pool, but thought that would be rubbing it in.
  • Dulles was like a ghost town this morning…we hardly saw anyone…security was a breeze and the flight was even in early.
  • We got our rental car up-graded for free to a…hold onto your seats…the suspense is killing you isn’t it…a….mini-van.  Now we know what it’s like to have kids….uhhh no comment.
  • Seriously I love kids…I have two nephews that flew in as well…actually they live in Chambersburg…in any case, as soon as we arrived at my in-laws, they wanted to go outside and play soccer.  Never thought in my life I’d work up a sweat on a Christmas afternoon.
  • As we were driving from the airport to the in-laws, we stopped at a McDonald’s drive-thru to get a quick snack before our big luncheon down here.  I pulled in, saw other cars going through the drive-thru and waited my turn.  After about 3-4 minutes of waiting for the attendant to take my order, I told Lisa to get out and go in to make sure they were open…they weren’t.  Uhhh, now who isn’t the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree.
  • Speaking of, don’t know why, but I just couldn’t shake last night’s Experience.  I couldn’t sleep well because of how disappointed I was…not sure why, but it really bothered me.
  • Lisa keeps reminding me that the couple of people who got saved didn’t seem to mind at all.
  • Thanks to all of you who have e-mailed, texted, commented and called today with Christmas greetings…Merry Christmas back to you!

 

Inside Tonight’s Christmas Eve Experience

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  • Just got into our hotel room down in VA…got an early morning flight to FL, but wanted to get this out quick.
  • Before I forget…MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!  Enjoy your day, be safe, and don’t forget to worship Jesus in the midst of it.
  • I really enjoyed the 5PM service.  I thought Earl put together a nice service and there was a real nice crowd.
  • I thought for sure that most people would choose to go to the 5PM service, so I actually told Lisa to put some chairs away beforehand and make the rows smaller than normal.
  • Oops I was wrong, people kept flooding in one after another. 
  • We went for the jugular so to speak right from the start with the Little Drummer Boy video.  I heard mixed reviews afterwards…people either loved it or hated it…didn’t seem to be any middle ground.
  • Hey don’t say I didn’t warn you.
  • It was nice having other staff participate.
  • OK, now for the bad stuff…I thought I did horrible.  I just never got into a groove. 
  • Not making excuses, but it’s hard enough to put together one message in a week much less 2. 
  • God always has the last laugh though…not sure of the exact number but it looked like we had another 5-6 people make professions of faith.
  • I also thought the whole Experience lacked the flow we normally have.  Yes, from a technical standpoint things flowed smoothly but from a spiritual flow of everything reinforcing each other, it felt really fragmented.
  • Ok, so we did have one technical problem….one of the lights decided to do it’s own thing.  I even tried unplugging it when I was over by it, but repeated attempts still left one light going wild.
  • Alright gotta get some sleep we’ve got an early flight.
  • I ma or may not blog on occasion while I’m away, so if the frequency is down, don’t worry I’ll be back soon.
  • Again Merry Christmas…I love you all!