Gilbert Thurston

• 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!

• I really enjoyed the Experience today…great job everybody!
• I’m really into the “Glory of it All” song…thought the team did great with it.
• Missed Adam who had 4 wisdom teeth taken out on Friday…get well buddy.
• Had another newbie in the tech department today…great job Laban!
• I really like the lighting we used today as well…as usual those who spend many hours getting it set-up did an awesome job!
• Wow it’s  hard to hear backstage…but from what I could hear it sounded like everyone enjoyed the tour of my crib.
• Great to see 3 more people responding today to the Gospel message!
• Thanks to everyone for the cards, gifts, food and money.  Hope you have a great Christmas!
• Afterwards Andy’s brother who was visiting from DE, went outside to get in his car, but the key wasn’t working in the ignition.  He kept trying and finally gave up when a couple came up to him wondering what he was doing in their car!  Turns out they have the same vehicle, same color and apparently same door key.   
• I couldn’t find a cap for my flash drive afterwards, but figured it show up somewhere eventually.  I finally found it when I got home…a person who shall remain anonymous, had shut my laptop lip on top of it…now my laptop screen is broken….AHHHHHHHH!!!!!  I’m praying it’s an easy/inexpensive fix.
• I stopped by Wal-mart on the way home and the woman in front of me at the self-checkout line apparently had just grabbed a bunch of stuff off the shelf and threw it in a cart not knowing whether she really wanted it or not.  Every item she would hold up, consult with her kids or friends then decide whether to scan it or not.  The things she didn’t want got stuffed into candy rack…I’m talking clothes, underwear, kitchen utensils, etc.  Then her friend who had come up about half-way through this whole fiasco decided to butt in front of me and purchase her stuff.  her problem was she had never used the self-scan before and had to be walked through each step.  I just kept reminding myself that these ladies were someone for whom Jesus died, and if they mattered that much to Jesus then they had to matter to me.  Truthfully it’s amazing how much calmer you are in situations like that when you keep the proper perspective.
• Tomorrow night should be great as we have our Christmas Eve Experience at 7PM.  It promises to be a great time of worship and even though we’re looking at the film Talladega Nights, I think you’ll be surprised by the deep theological point it makes.
• If you can’t make the 7PM Experience, there will be two other services in the sanctuary at 5PM and 11PM.
• Tonight we’ll go celebrate Christmas with some friends of ours and then tomorrow will be busy putting the final touches on the Christmas Eve services and packing for our trip to FL…see you tomorrow!

Just got done paying the bills for the week. My tithe check (which this week we’re calling Jesus birthday gift…remember who shows up to a birthday party without a gift for the guest of honor) is number 777. Thought that was cool. 7 is the number of God and 777 (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is often seen as the antithesis of 666. Again I’m probably the only one who will really care about this, but thought I’d share it anyway.

• Feeling much better today…it’s amazing what happens when you get some sleep occasionally.
• We’ll be celebrating Christmas tonight with my niece before she flies out to TX to be with her dad…maybe it will finally start to feel like Christmas then.
• Looked at the forecast for FL last night and it will be in the 80’s all of next week while we’re down there…uhh…that won’t feel like Christmas.
• HA! That part I don’t care about…I love the warm weather!   Can’t wait to sit outside by the pool!
• This morning in my devotions, I finished up reading through the Bible for the year.  This was a pretty special one…in the now 14 years that I’ve been a Christian, this marked the 25th time I’ve been through cover-to-cover during my devotional times.
• One time I read through the entire thing in 1 month just to see if it could be done.  It was one of my favorite read throughs because it was helpful to see how passages that were chapters or sometimes even book apart connect together….but it was also very time consuming.  Basically every hour I wasn’t working, I was reading.
• Worship practice last night was great!  We had to practice for both Sunday and Monday and the team did an incredible job!
• Don’t forget to invite someone to come with you this week.
• While were at it, have you done your other two homework assignments from last week’s message?  1.  Write a thank you letter to the person who led you into a relationship with Christ.  2.  Prepare to bring in a birthday gift for Jesus this week…in other words…tithe for a week.
• Our house officially goes on the market tomorrow.
• I can’t believe how much junk we’ve thrown away.  I borrowed my dad’s truck and ended up taking 2 truck loads full to the dump.
• Someone please remind me if we ever decide to move again not to do so during the Christmas season…what were we thinking?
• What’s up with Ruby Tuesday’sre-doing their restaurants?  We ate in the re-modeled Hagerstown location on Sunday night and then in the new one in Chambersburg last night and wow what a difference.  It’s like they’re trying to be an up-scale restaurant…I actually felt under dressed…oh well, the food was still good.
• Speaking of food…since we moved into the new building, there is always food in the office kitchen sitting around…especially here at Christmas time.  And of course we all know that 2nd Hallucinations 3:7 says, “Thou shalt not pass by Christmas goodies without partaking in the goodness of which the Lord has provided.”
• Don’t forget to come to the New Years party either.  The combination of bands, games and the people should make for a fun evening.
• Ok, I can’t keep this in any longer…if you’re a fan of Will Ferrell you have got to show up at the 7PM Christmas Eve Experience. 
• Gotta go…got a hot date with my wife!