Preparing for Jesus – Thankful – Advent, Day 24
I want say at the start of this post…Thank you to everyone for all the great birthday wishes today. A person underestimates just how great it makes you feel when someone remembers your birthday. So…THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I am so blessed.
That said…I had such a great day. I spent a big portion of my birthday serving with a bunch of my teammates from Shelby in the Orange Mound community of Memphis. It really was a perfect birthday. Great weather, great people serving our great God together. I am also so proud of how our Shelby Systems family came together this Christmas to work with Orange Mound Outreach Ministries to adopt a family. I don’t want to go into too many details about our new friends in this post, but today we all had a blast moving them into their new home right down the street from the Orange Mound Outreach Community Center. Now that the Shelby Systems family has had a taste of hands-on compassion and justice ministry. I think we are hooked. I see more of this kind of crazy love in our future.
Reverend Reggie and Mary Tucker, the leaders of the Orange Mound Outreach Ministry, are amazing people. Getting a chance to see their sense of ownership and love for that local community in action is simply awesome to behold. Pastor Reggie and his bride are pure energy and passion and it was such a joy to serve with them. Make no mistake, they are crazy in love with Christ and they have revolved their lives around sharing that love with Orange Mound. I pray that God will allow us to continue to serve along side of them in the future and I pray that God blesses and multiplies their efforts in profound ways as they continue to pour into the children and the families around them.
After we served together, I ended this perfect birthday with a perfect evening at home with my family. Again I write, I am so blessed and so thankful to be alive. So…on day 24 of this Advent season of 2010, as I prepare my heart for Christ, I am overwhelmed with gratitude. God is good.
