Okay, so since I appear to have messed up when booking Gill’s ticket to Texas, meaning she is there until Friday instead of being back in New York yesterday, I had my very quiet New Years Eve all worked out.

My plan was to watch one of my favorite movies, Mr. Holland’s Opus, and then do a review of the year here on my blog for the sake of anyone else who had nothing better to do tonight either.

Half an hour ago I ran into a friend in the supermarket who appeared mortified at the thought of me spending the evening alone and insisted I join his family and some friends (all of whom I know well) at a small party at his home. So I guess I’ll stay awake to see the ball drop after all.

No movie – and no review of the year.

But to be honest, the story of this poast year is Mr. Holland’s story…

Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfus) is a man with a deep love of music and a desire to write at least one piece of lasting significance. However, playing piano in cocktail lounges while he works on his own compositions doesn’t pay the bills, so in 1965 he reluctantly accepts a job as a high school music teacher. Over the next 30 years, Holland is able to teach a great deal about both music and life to thousands of kids who pass through the various classes he leads and school bands he directs – but he never gets to wriote his magnus opus.

When education cuts mean his position is eliminated, Holland prepares to leave the school for the last time, but on his way out he is led to the auditorium. There an orchestra of his former students plays the piece he had been working on for a lifetime.

And the moral of this story, together with my postscript on 2008 is this – sometimes we look for one huge event or success, but real achievement is often seen in the patchwork of a little here and a little there, someone helped, another encouraged, etc.

2008 wasn’t spectacular, but we hit a lot of right notes!

Hope our folks all have a quiet end to 2008, because the new series we’re starting on Sunday will get us into the New Year with a jolt – or is that a jump?

+ We had a good morning at church today – not remarkable or earth-shattering, but solid and purposeful.

+ We expected a far smaller crowd the Sunday after Christmas, so it was totally acceptable to be proven wrong on that score.

+ I liked having the KIDMO kids in with us today and using some of their material. Johnny Rogers is insane!

+ Charlotte was great at the front – considering she generally only stands in front of our kids. Since she’s always in the KIDMO Theater, she looked around the main theater today and declared she doesn’t even know most of our church!

+ They were showing movies this morning, but didn’t really curb our activities that much. Mike is a great theater manager!!

+ Lesaya did the adult teaching today – it’s always good to be able to sit back and enjoy some good preaching.

+ Lunch at the Lake Rock Diner – not my favorite, but convenient – with some friends visiting from Florida. They’re talking about wanting to return to the Island. It would be outstanding to have them back in the church.

+ There was quite a crowd at the Christmas bash for volunteers who make our Grace Care programs happen. Kerry Tooker does a phenomenal job of making all that stuff happen – whilst being a wife, mother of three and full-time student. Incredible!

+ Before coming home I stopped at a wake where I’m doing the funeral service tomorrow. I don’t know the man, but his sister is in our church. Tragic situation. The homicide cops are still trying to find out who shot him. Please pray that I say the right things.

+ Having left home before 7.00 and returned around 4.00, I decided to take the rest of the day off. No gym today, but I’ll make up for it in the week – honest!

+ Talked to Gill down in Texas. She’s having a good time with Ben and Emily of course. I hope to get to see them before too long, but weekends away don’t really work for me.

+ New series starts next Sunday and I’m going to be teaching for a longer spell than I’ve done in a while.

+ Poor old Brett Favre isn’t too impressive at all. Maybe he should have quit for good after an excellent final season with the Packers.

+ Now we see just how short-sighted the Jets were signing him. Who’ll be their QB next season?

+ Last Sunday of the year – I’ll post some reflections during the week.

+ Meanwhile back to football – Colts in the playoffs of course; Tampa Bay out – pity for Jeff Garcia, but happy the foul-mouthed Gruden won’t be around; Cowboys getting their butts kicked – no comment!

+ Okay, that’s it – don’t ask me why, but I’ve been tired all weekend. Time to focus on football and maybe even the back of my eyelids!

It’s weird, but having Christmas Day tends to mess with your bearings, so that you wonder what day of the week it is now. So I figured I’d do Staurday evening readers a favor and make sure you don’t miss the fact that tomorrow is Sunday.

It will be a full day, but it goes without saying that I’m looking forward to it.

+ Church in the morning, with a special family service to cap off the Christmas celebrations.

+ Brunch with a great couple who used to be part of our congregation, but for some reason moved to Florida. Maybe I can persuade them to come back???

+ In the afternoon Kerry Tooker, our Grace Care Director, has put together a party for all of our Grace Care volunteers. I’m looking forward to spending time with these compassionate and committed people.

+ Then I have the wake for the brother of one of our ladies, who was found murdered on Christmas Eve.

That’s a mixed bag – it sure keeps life interesting!

I know I tick some people off when I make political comments, so I’ll just quote my friend Douglas McIntyre instead – great post on his blog about Maggie Thatcher and the current economic crisis -

http://dougmcintyre.blogspot.com/2008/12/give-thatcher-us-citizenship.html

+ We had a really good day yesterday, with a great mix of family and friends.

+ Having Jace here made the day – Ben and Emily would have perfected it!

+ Got a lot of good gifts, including navy Converse with plastic soles. They’re some fancy designer name, but as everyone knows, what limited fashion savvy I have comes second-hand, so I can’t remember the name!!!

+ Some good books – plenty of reading material in  hand.

+ “Best” gift? Okay, I realize that I run the risk of insulting every other kind friend and family member, but I got a DVD from Scotland with narrative, photographs and video footage outlining the history of the traditional Walk Soirees in the villages of Cairnbulg, Inverallochy and St.Combs. If you have no idea what that is all about, don’t worry – for me it was a piece of pure nostalgia.

+ Today’s weird. I keep wondering what day it is.

+ Gill leaves for Texas soon, to spend a few days with Jonathan and the kids.

+ Have been talking to a lady in our church whose brother was found murdered on Christmas Eve. That’s the second woman from our congregation who has been in that position in two months. I’m doing the funeral Sunday night. Pray for Wendy.

+ Our last Christmas service will be the family event we’ve put together for Sunday. It’s going to be very special. Our KIDMO kids will be joining us for the morning and it will be good to have them around.

+ January will probably be the most significant month of the year as we lay the foundation for what will be an epic year for Church At The Movies. If you’re part of our church family, don’t plan on missing a single Sunday during those first weeks of 2009.

It’s Christmas Eve and everyone is in bed. Gifts are stacked all around the tree in the corner of the den, awaiting the arrival of an excited eight year-old and his mother pretty early in the morning.

I’m watching Rick Warren on the Fox News Channel and listening to the Christmas message he’s preaching in his church. Seven or eight years ago I picked up a book in a Christian bookstore that looked interesting. It was called The Purpose Driven Church and was written by a guy I’d never heard of, Rick Warren.

Reading that book and attending Purpose Driven Church conferences at Saddleback Church in California set me on the road to actually doing what I had been saying for long enough that I wanted to do – develop church for the unchurched. I had little clue how to go about it, but Rick Warren helped me, as he has done hundreds of thousands of pastors worldwide.

I’m glad to see Fox have him on TV again this Christmas. I love the fact he is referred to as America’s Pastor. I’m pleased he’ll be participating in President Obama’s inauguration.

He’s the real deal.

After several decades of ridiculous egomaniacs grabbing the headlines and being looked upon as characteristic of Christians at large, it’s a relief that we are now identified with someone as balanced and kingdom-minded as the guy I’m listening to right now.

+ It’s Christmas Eve again! That’s my first thought – where did a whole year go?

+ I’m doing a bit of the cookling, ready for tomorrow. Christmas dinner is traditionally my domain. Please stay out of my kitchen.

+ Jace is here with us for a couple of hours – it’s good to have kids around at Christmas.

+ Did anyone charging around stores today hear about a recession. I know it is hitting Long Island, so are they all in credit card lala land?

+ This will be the first Christmas in 35 years that we haven’t all been together as a family. Gill will be heading out on Friday to spend a few days with the Texas branch of the family, so she will get to enjoy part of the holidays with the kids down there.

+ Here in soggy Coram, our house is still full – a bit like the U.N. My sister is here from England, then we have Becky from Scotland who has been with us since August and our friend from India, Rohan, is spending his winter break at our house before returning for his second semester at Pace.

+ Although the country of my adoption has gone incredibly over-the-top in commercializing Christmas to an outrageous degree, it’s still my favorite season of the year.

+ Today I’m thinking of some friends for whom things will be different this Christmas – and possibly painful. It isn’t a happy time for everyone.

+ I have a couple of gifts to drop off this afternoon, as soon as I’m done cooking.

+ Hoping to cope reasonably well with the food challenge. I went to the gym this morning to make sure I start the holiday well and have been conservative in what I have eaten thus far today … but the goodies haven’t been broken out yet!

+ Just spoke to some friends in India for whom Christmas day has already begun. It would be weird to be singing carols in 95 degrees heat, but I’d be willing to try it.

+ Polar Express is on TV in the background. I keep hearing a few bars from the song Believe, which Jaimee sang last Sunday. It speaks about far more than Santa Claus – faith is the key to real life.

+ So, in case I don’t get back here – and I shouldn’t – have a great Christmas as we celebrate trhe extravagence of God’s love for us.

We’re not doing a Christmas Eve service this year and that’s totally okay with me. We’ve had some really good ones on the occasions we’ve done them over the years, with great crowds, but tomorrow evening we’ve decided to pass on it.

For years I’ve seen churches talking about the importance of family and then loading their members up with demands and expectations, so that every spare minute they have is spent doing church stuff instead of being with the people who need them most. That’s wrong.

Christmas Eve is a huge family time for many Long Islanders, so since we really do value family, we’re going to make sure that our folks are where they should be tomorrow evening. No service.

There’s also the fact that it takes a tremendous amount of effort to transform Regal Cinemas into Church At The Movies and we have a lot of dedicazted people who work very hard every Sunday to make that happen. So instead of adding another work day to their holiday season, we’re giving all our helpers the evening off. I’m happier letting them know they’re appreciated than dumping something extra on them.

Then there’s the fact that while we can draw a crowd to a Christmas Eve service, I am not aware of a single person who has come to faith in Christ or joined our church because they were  there at that time of year. It’s not helping us to fulfil our mission, so it’s okay to drop it.

There are some good churches around us doing a service tomorrow evening, so if you want to be in one there are a lot of options. However, we’re doing nothing – and that’s okay!

+ Watching the Giants getting torn apart – not a pretty sight.

+ Woke up to more snow, but thankfully it was light and soon turned to rain.

+ The weather certainly affected the turnout for our Christmas service, but we still had a good crowd.

+ It was a very good morning. Heather’s story of how God turned her life around was a pretty amazing climax to the service, followed by Jaime belting out “Believe”.

+ Christmas carols have serious limitations. I never met a musician who likes playing them, but our guys did a great job with the selection they used.

+ Yesterday’s outreach served a Christmas dinner to around 60 homeless guys and gave a full Christmas gift bag to each of them. Today we started our toys distribution, which will continue tomorrow. I love this stuff!

+ There are some very generous people around. We have had several donations to our Grace Care programs from unexpected sources this week. Giving is always better than receiving.

+ I saw some serious-looking chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks in the cafe this morning. I left quickly before they led me into sin!

+ Bought a lot of the Christmas food today. Not a patch on what we used to eat, but some different and special stuff we’ll enjoy.

+ Our wedding anniversary on Saturday was a very busy day, so we’re celebrating it tomorrow instead with an overnight stay at a Bed & Breakfast on the north shore west of here – secret location!!!

+ The house is now pretty full for Christmas, with my sister from England, Becky from Scotland and Rohan from India. It’s a bit like the UN over here right now!