Two weeks left.  I almost wish there was an additional week as there is still a lot to do.  4 Papers, and study for finals.  We have had a cold streak or it is supposed to be this cold up here, I don't know.  30's to 40 at night and upper 40's to low 50's in the day.  Been 7 years since I experienced cold every day.  Feels pretty good actually, so far.  We had our Lessons and Carols service here at Christ Chapel last night.  We have it at my field church on Wednesday night this week.  The music director is bringing a 60 student choir from the school where he is the music director.  We are serving dinner afterwards.  We normally have 150 per week between two services.  We have been told to expect 180-200 total.  The church will easily handle this many as it is never even 1/2 full, other than the ordination that was celebrated for the son of the congregation. 

I did the rough edit to piece our video of our homeless project for Pastoral Care and Jason and Tom did the polishing, which is where it really came together.  It turned out very good.  I am excited to show it in class.  As I understand things, our IT director makes copies and puts them all on a DVD and gets them to all the class members so we have a copy of each teams video to keep.  I look forward to having that.  

I know the Christmas season is always so stressful.  I hope we all just take a step back and stop listening to the retailers and the marketers that try to tell us how Christmas should be celebrated if you want to be "really happy".  I have really come to try to simplify Christmas and focus on the celebration of the coming of our Lord.  However, I am totaly out gunned and out spent by all of the marketing.  We get so caught up in having to make everything TV perfect.  Life is not that way and it causes many people to become depressed and stressed because they can't live up to the picture perfect Christmas.  Please just do what you can, don't commit to what you can't, enjoy the company of your friends and loved ones, and praise God that he gave us His one and only Son to save us from sin.  Who cares if your Christmas dinner came from Publix or Sonny's or Bob Evans.  It is about enjoying the love our God shows to us and through us. 

Have a great week.  I need to get back to Greek.  I leave you with this thought:

"The spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.  There is no law against such things as these."  Galatians 5:22-23