Wow! What a day. First, let me thank all of those in the Preston congregation who prayed for their pastor over the past 48 hours. I went to sleep last night knowing that today was going to be a long day, but I also went to sleeping knowing God was with me.

With everything that has happened in the last 72 hours we also had the floor in the Fellowship Hall cleaned. Things had to be moved back in this morning, so I went and did that. I came back to the house and got dressed for church. I had asked God to fill me with His grace, mercy, comfort, and wisdom to minister to our congregation. He was faithful to that prayer. We had a tragic death in our congregation this week and it was to be the first funeral I was to officiate. The funeral was today. God helped our congregation through the service this morning and it was wonderful as we finished with communion, and remembered that Christ is coming again.

Then it was time to go to the funeral. God’s grace and mercy overflowed and the Holy Spirit came down. It was an awesome experience to be under the Holy Spirit’s control. God answered my prayer and I was able to preach a wonderful sermon of hope. I also got to sing a song with a lady I just met last night. She is a wonderful Christian lady, who really helped finish the preparations for today’s funeral. I thank God for the way He helped me preach that sermon to the church and to the community.

But our day was not finished. We had choir practice tonight to prepare for our Christmas Eve worship. Everyone was tired, so we went easy. We finished this day with a Hanging of the Greens service. We sang a couple of Christmas carols and read some scripture and then got busy decorating the church. It was a wonderful time of fellowship. We even let our children and teens decorate the tree and they did a great job.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. He is faithful and I love being His servant. Thank You Lord, for helping me be the shepherd you have called me to be. Thank You for letting me minister grace and mercy to our congregation today. I love You, Lord, for You are worthy of honor and praise. Our God is awesome.