HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!!!

And what a good start to the new year it is!

The girls, and Tyler, had gone with the youth to Alabama to Break-thru. This is a time the youth go to camp and always come back with a spiritual renewal....this time was no different...PRAISE THE LORD! They returned last night after having left on the 28th.

Beings it was new years eve, shortly after arriving home Tyler took JoBea to Natchez to eat and stopped to get fireworks. Madge and her good friend Emily hung out with me. It was very uplifting to have them share with me their desires of worship and the things that stood out to them on this trip.

The 3 of us tracked them down a hamburger at Della Mae's then off to purchase some fireworks for them to do while we waited on Tyler and JoBea. My good friend Barbie came over with her grandchildren Tre' and Carly, to watch, but they had to leave before Tyler and JoBea made it back with the main fireworks, but were able to play and do smoke bombs and snappers (that didn't half work) before leaving for our Church's watch night.

Once JoBea and Tyler returned, they were ready to get the show on the road. They came back with 3 bags of fireworks so they set up a table in the yard and prepared themselves....coats, coats and more coats...blankets, blankets and more blankets! I had to throw on some gloves to be able to push the button to take pictures, it was COLD!!

So with the table all set up....this wasn't everything....

They began to fight against the wind to get the fireworks lit. Sometimes I had to open my big coat up to block the wind so they could light stuff. They enjoy the large sparklers...

First there was Tyler...

then Madge....

and last but not least, we FINALLY got one lit for Emily...

I think JoBea was too cold to hold one.

At one point Emily had a flash back to her past life as the statue of liberty...

until the sparkles began to rain down on her...

in which I told her she was going to go up in flames like Michael Jackson and she snatched it away from herself as we laughed.

Tyler was our firework engineer. After trying to catch our yard on fire....

actually I think he was too tired to hold it upright. At 12 midnight he began to light the show pieces.

They had lots of fun with all shapes, sizes & colors...

As we wound down the night, early morning, we all picked up the trash and empty firework shells. In doing so I thought of how the fireworks are nothing without what? Light of fire! With a light, the colorful containers begin to shoot out with excitement such beauty and with it making us all smile and be in awe of it's display. But then the shell is empty and it's forgotten.

My prayer for each of us is this year, starting today, that we will continue to work to keep our "shells" filled with the fullness of God so that with His light we can be the "fireworks" to others and they/we can stand in awe of Christ and finally find that complete love that we all search for. Let's not forget God when the excitement of the holidays is gone.

Ephesians 3:16-19.....I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge---that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Let's make 2008 the year of the Church, Christ Church. As Ephesians 1: 22-23 says.......And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

We are to work as an entire Church, not alone, not for ourselves, but as Christ being the head and us being the body of His Church, in unity. As the study notes state---We should not attempt to work, serve or worship merely on our own. We NEED the entire body.

Let's pray, encourage and help each other keep our "shells" filled, complete with Christ so that others may see God as the loving Father that He is and wants to be to us all. It's 2008, we are still here, so our work is not done!

God bless you and yours!