December to Remember?

Could this be one of those Decembers to remember? My preaching adventures have started to pick up here in December. Although not exactly in the ways I thought they would. Instead of preaching to teenagers this month I'm actually scheduled to preach twice to adult congregations, and once to a group of my collegiate peers. Luckily to keep me grounded with my calling I have countless youth events planned this month. This week we have the Pastor Alan Reality Tour. Teens this week will jump in one big bus and we will travel across the community looking at Christmas lights and having just one great party. Soon after that we have our Fireside Christmas Show where the church does a semi talent show and we just spend time with each other celebrating the gift of Jesus. Soon after that there will be a Christmas party for the Teens. I think we picked the best venue this year for it as well. The sparks have been a literal spark in our youth group! After that comes the event I look forward to each year. Its time again for the Nearly New Years Lockin. Hundreds of teens will come from all over the Tennessee district for a night of Worship, Discipleship and Friendship activities. There will be things from Ice Skating to Laser Tag to Bowling and Basketball, Broom Hockey, Concerts and probably much more... This is such a cool night for me because it reminds me of why I became so involved with the teens. The bond that the groups on the district have with each other bring us closest to understanding the story of the Gospel. The teens will get reminded that they aren't alone and there are brothers and sisters not to far away worshiping the same God and probably playing some of the same silly games or going through some of the same struggles as they are. So yeah that's my action packed December Ministry Calendar. Now get this... I have Finals and like 7 more papers due this coming week. I have a birthday in 4 days! My roommate is getting married in 2 weeks and his bachelor party is on my birthday! My grandparents are renewing their vows with a huge ceremony this weekend! 50 years? Just think 50 years of marriage! Ok also some news today from my sister. She is losing eyesight in one eye and the doctors are working to figure out whats going on. She had an MRI today. If you read this and feel called to pray for her, her name is Kelli and she is 19 years old. Today I have been feeling an awful strong call to search for a place in need of a full time youth minister. I sent a couple of emails out I even got a phone call from my buddy Jason Underwood randomly telling me that the NYI president from this district called him and told him to call me and tell me about a church that was looking for someone. I was coming from my Grandma's house today and was passing CCC NAZ and needed to get a resume sent out to someone so I stopped in when I saw Bobs car there. I ended up talking to him for a bit after asking if I could bum some WIFI. In our conversation i got to talking about how I was doing this Marriage ceremony for renewing vows after 50 years for my grandparents this weekend, and Bob just happened to have done the same thing recently. He printed me off his notes and gave me a great amount of material to work with. I was pretty excited about that since Guys I have never done anything like this before... Can use all the help I can get. The night ended with a much needed dinner out with my Fiancee. I can't say enough how much I love her and feel blessed to have her in my life. I'm getting tired of writing soo..... Thanks for reading! I LOVE YA - Just Jon