Christmas Advent 2012 Christmas Eve

December 24, 2012 Before becoming a State Convention Consultant and then Association Executive Director, as a pastor the Christmas Eve service was one the best attended services during the year. It was so much fun to see the excitement and wonder of Christmas through the eyes of the children and to hear what they were thinking about. On one particular Christmas Eve the service had just concluded. Some of the people had left others were still talking and wishing one another Merry Christmas when one of the members came into the auditorium and excitedly said, “Brother Randy, there’s a fire on the second floor!” We asked everyone to leave as the fire trucks were rolling up in front of the church. When it was all said and done, someone had come into the building and had lit a cigarette and pushed it into a roll of toilet paper and placed it on the tank in the boy’s restroom. We were grateful no one was hurt, and besides it got the restrooms refurbished and the carpets in the hall cleaned. Just about every Christmas Eve I will think of that service as the night fire came to the church. Imagine, what it might have been like for Mary and Joseph the night Jesus was born. I wonder if they kept warm with a small camp fire. I wonder also if the light was from the lamps. I wonder if they were scared at what was about to happen. I wonder if they were excited about the baby who had been promised by the angel of the Lord. I wonder? It’s something to think about.