This time of year the importance of family surfaces quite naturally. Millions look forward to either receiving company or being company. Christmas is an excuse to shut down pressing matters and get the place ready for a few or many to enter our doors. I like being on both ends; I like the fun of going off someplace as I did to Tim and Kim’s in November in Guadalajara or the great joy of getting the house ready for Wendy’s and Dusty’s to arrive with their spouses and kids. Oh what a bunch of happy kids!
It is for this reason I like the church. It is more family. Jesus spelled it out saying everyone who leaves father or mother for his sake would have many more fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. I recently attended a family reunion in Arizona for my uncle’s 80th birthday. Nine cousins were together; some from Oregon and California and others from Illinois and Oklahoma. It was spirit luxury to go from one relative to the next and fit hearts together. It reminded me of church.
When we gather at the Tulsa Workshop, it is sheer family reunion. We can hardly believe we get to be us and know who we know! When we gather at Pepperdine? The same thing happens. Soon I’ll be a guest speaker at Highland Oaks in Dallas. Among the many blessings, reunion time will be prominently influential and inspiring!
One of the things I really like about family (church and otherwise) is the eye we have for those who don’t have family. Not everyone is swarmed by a crowd of hugs. Some have no family; no friends. This is when we become more like Jesus. So even through this blog, if you happen to be sitting at home quietly without a lot of fuss and mess going on, know that you are “in”! You are in the mix of blog-family. You are embedded into the Christ group. You belong. Everyone belongs! Everyone is important!
Merry Christmas,
Terry
3 comments:
Amen and amen again - Merry Christmas :)
I only attended Tulsa workshop once (and loved it), and that was to take my mother out. So I never knew the reunion experience there, but I definitely knew that experience in my 20 consecutive years to attend Pepperdine. And I miss it dearly.
I love the Tulsa Workshop and can't wait to get back there this year. Even more than that, I'm so glad I don't have to wait until March to get my hug!! See you at Highland Oaks in a couple weeks! Can't wait to see you friend! Love you!
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