Unexpected Blessing
By Pastor Troy
Wow, there are a lot of things to write about this week. I think I will share our Christmas Eve story. I know you are probably braced for the heart wrenching story of feeding the entire downtown homeless population. Not quite there yet.
We have started a family tradition to fondue on Christmas Eve. This is certainly the longest meal of the year and the girls love cooking their meat one piece at a time. We had visions of a relaxing evening of eating, sharing and ripping open presents. Somehow the vision was never fulfilled.
We met some friends down at Crown Center to go ice skating and then made a few stops on the way home. Our final stop was the grocery store to get some ingredients for the fondue and also for Christmas day. We decided on the Wal-Mart Super Center and saw several employees congregated at the entrance and then we saw people walking away…like “there is no room in the Inn” type of walking away. It was 6:02 pm and the store was closed!
I have to be honest, we panicked immediately. We HAVE to find a grocery store or we’re dead (well not dead, but eating cereal for Christmas dinner is not all that appealing). Next closest, Price Chopper…Hyvee….Another Super Center…..Apple Market….we finally ended up at K-Mart which of course is not the place you want to grocery shop for Christmas dinner unless your menu is bologna sandwiches. In the end, we decided to hold on the fondue until Christmas day, pay a visit to the Petrillo Pantry for our final grocery needs and then go out to eat.
This is not an exaggeration because of our procrastination. We had the best meal at Carabba’s! The food was honestly the best we have tasted on a Holiday. The waiter was great….since it was so late, we were his only table so he joined us at the booth for Christmas Eve dinner. The nice thing is he kept bringing out more food (for free…Merry Christmas to me). We ended our two hour meal with free desert and no cleanup.
We would have never planned it this way, however we had such a great time I have already shared this story with several people. I absolutely love telling this story, because it was a time when we wanted to have a nice meal and our expectations were totally exceeded. We experienced a huge blessing! This Sunday, the title of the sermon is, “Proclaim the Glory of the Lord” and we will each be challenged to broadcast our spiritual blessings with those we meet for the glory of God. I hope you can take some time to review John 12:20-36 and also to spend some time in prayer for God to bless our services.
In the spirit of Christmas and the challenge of a New Year ahead!
Wow, there are a lot of things to write about this week. I think I will share our Christmas Eve story. I know you are probably braced for the heart wrenching story of feeding the entire downtown homeless population. Not quite there yet.
We have started a family tradition to fondue on Christmas Eve. This is certainly the longest meal of the year and the girls love cooking their meat one piece at a time. We had visions of a relaxing evening of eating, sharing and ripping open presents. Somehow the vision was never fulfilled.
We met some friends down at Crown Center to go ice skating and then made a few stops on the way home. Our final stop was the grocery store to get some ingredients for the fondue and also for Christmas day. We decided on the Wal-Mart Super Center and saw several employees congregated at the entrance and then we saw people walking away…like “there is no room in the Inn” type of walking away. It was 6:02 pm and the store was closed!
I have to be honest, we panicked immediately. We HAVE to find a grocery store or we’re dead (well not dead, but eating cereal for Christmas dinner is not all that appealing). Next closest, Price Chopper…Hyvee….Another Super Center…..Apple Market….we finally ended up at K-Mart which of course is not the place you want to grocery shop for Christmas dinner unless your menu is bologna sandwiches. In the end, we decided to hold on the fondue until Christmas day, pay a visit to the Petrillo Pantry for our final grocery needs and then go out to eat.
This is not an exaggeration because of our procrastination. We had the best meal at Carabba’s! The food was honestly the best we have tasted on a Holiday. The waiter was great….since it was so late, we were his only table so he joined us at the booth for Christmas Eve dinner. The nice thing is he kept bringing out more food (for free…Merry Christmas to me). We ended our two hour meal with free desert and no cleanup.
We would have never planned it this way, however we had such a great time I have already shared this story with several people. I absolutely love telling this story, because it was a time when we wanted to have a nice meal and our expectations were totally exceeded. We experienced a huge blessing! This Sunday, the title of the sermon is, “Proclaim the Glory of the Lord” and we will each be challenged to broadcast our spiritual blessings with those we meet for the glory of God. I hope you can take some time to review John 12:20-36 and also to spend some time in prayer for God to bless our services.
In the spirit of Christmas and the challenge of a New Year ahead!
posted by Admin at
5:04 PM
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