Gilbert Thurston

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Random Post Christmas Thoughts

December 27, 2008 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

  • Wow…now that Christmas is over it’s like a huge weight has been lifted off of me in spite of the fact that I’m still way behind.
  • Maybe it’s because Christmas Eve was so good…even with the technical difficulty at the 5PM Experience.
  • In total 1168 people attended on Christmas Eve!
  • One guest stopped me after the 7PM Experience and said that he has been attending church for over 50 years and that it was the best service he had ever been a part of.
  • That’s awesome to hear…the Spirit of God was definitely present and on the move.
  • By the time the 11PM communion service took place in the sanctuary, I was still on a high, but dead tired at the same time.
  • Earl wanted me to read about 20 verses of scripture from the Christmas story but he had us off to the side just barely still in the spotlight.
  • This meant that my bible (tiny print) was hard to see.  As I’m continuing, I’m concentrating so hard and my eyes are so tired that my contacts were drying out and things were getting really blurry.
  • By the last 7 or so verses, I was only getting a word here and there and was making the rest up as I went along…luckily I’ve read it enough that I think for the most part no one could really tell.
  • Christmas day, I woke up to the smell of cinnamon rolls which Lisa and I ate and then opened our stockings…our actual Christmas gifts with each other won’t be for another week.
  • Then we went to my parents for lunch and to exchange gifts…stopped by one of our small group members homes down in WV…and then went to Lisa’s sister’s house for our Christmas tradition of Crab Legs as the appetizer and then Alaskan King Crab Legs as the main course!
  • We’ll exchange gifts with them and their family next week when Lisa’s brother comes up from NC for a few days.
  • Yesterday despite having to work on my normal day off was very productive and I can’t wait for tomorrow….trust me you’ll want to be there!  Tomorrow’s Experience will be just as visual as it is something to hear…see you then.
  • BONUS PRE-CHRISTMAS FUNNY STORY:  When I went to buy the gift cards for the Contagious Christmas Challenge, my church card got denied at Toys R Us.  The reason was I had been buying so many in one day that the credit card company thought some sort of fraud was happening, so I had use a personal card for the $3100 and submit a reimbursement to the church.
         On Tuesday Aaron was sitting in my office working and I came in to find an envelope on my desk which I opened up.  The first thing I saw was a Christmas bonus check and right behind it was the reimbursment check.  Knowing that Aaron’s bonus check would be about the same as mine, I immediately said, “Oh cool we got a Christmas bonus” and intentionally grabbed the reimbursement check and turned it around for him to see and said, “Was yours about the same size as mine?” 
        When he saw the $3100 figure, his look was priceless.  With about the fakiest smile you can imagine he gritted through saying, “Well good for you”.  I couldn’t contain my laughter though and let him in on the joke.  In the midst of a pretty hectic day and week, it was the laugh I think we both needed.

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