West Cocoa Chat

I guess one of the dangers of being a minister or in church leadership is the giving of so much time and energy to “the flock” that you don’t have the same (insert Star Trek Scotty voice: “Captain, I don’t have the power!”) amount of focus or energy for your family. I did a blog version of this yesterday. How could I write about the weekend God blessed our church with without writing about my wife’s (previously referred to as a “fellowshipping machine by moi) efforts this past Saturday night at our Church Christmas Party.

But first, a little history. Back in the 80’s (or many pounds and hairs ago) my Father was the Deacon of Fellowship at our church. The church we were attending had a history of hosting Christmas Parties in the homes of volunteers but the numbers were growing while the homes were remaining the same size. So my Dad, being the ex-First Sergeant and good old southern boy that he was, took the bull (or in this case, the party) by the horns and decided we needed to use our church’s multi-purpose auditorium to accommodate the numbers. Then he asked my wife, Barb, to provide the sides if he would purchase the meat. The next year Barb went to “full service” cooking the entire meal. By the time we left that church I was a deacon. I guess there’s a correlation there, anyway:

Now here’s the funny part and feel free to heap hot coals or cold water upon my head. When we arrived at Central I had a game plan. My defense consisted of “laying low” and waiting for a couple of years to get to know this church. Then after I knew everyone if I was fulfilling a ministry that the church recognized as needing a deacon, I would gladly accept. My offense consisted of continuing to direct a week of Bible Camp as well as staying involved with my son and his new youth group.

Can somebody say, “Busted?” Within a matter of months I was being considered as a deacon. So much for my game plan. One of the first things we did was to organize a Church Christmas Party for Central. We were nervous wanting everything to be perfect for our new church family. The Lord blessed and everything came off well.

Fast forward to just this past weekend. We had the “preparation day” from “Hades” on Saturday. Nothing went right up to the point where we realized that the temperature on the prime rib was at 180 rather than our desired 150 – 160. We were convinced that we had created a new dish, “Prime Rib Jerky.” When we arrived at church and started cutting the meat, we were surprised to see it still juicy and quite tasty.

I don’t know if God has “Food Angels” (apologies to my good friend Mike O’Neal who taught a class on “Angels” at last year’s Pepperdine Lectures – he would scold me at this point) or answers prayers about food but nonetheless, we gave Him the Glory.

Our gift exchange game went well and surprisingly fast considering our numbers. We tried to have someone “on deck” as someone was up choosing a gift, opening it, or “stealing” someone else’s. The hot item of the night, some Christmas pillows! Who would have “thunk” it? My good friend and fellow West Cocoa neighbor, Monty, who had a high number, gave me his insurance card when it was his turn and proudly announced, “I’m giving Cecil my “Man Card.” He “stole” the Christmas Pillows for his wife.

I’m so glad God gave Barbara to me to be my wife. I would be less than half the man without her. The evening turned out great largely due to her efforts.

May God bless you guys.