SUNDAY SERVICES:

My daughter and I both overslept this morning. That was the direct result of having stayed up late watching a cheesy movie together. Holiday weeks are wonderful.

We both padded around the kitchen making our morning drinks: mine a chai latte with milk, hers the same but with almond milk. She mused, "I feel like everything in my life is going well. School is going well. My running is going well. My friendships are great. I worry that something bad will happen, that God will take it away to show me that I should be dependent on Him or something."

"God doesn't operate like that," I mumbled as I poured milk in my mug. Did I mention I am not a morning person?  I do not have all my words in the morning.

"Yes, but how do you know that?"

"Because He is a good father. He delights to give good gifts to His children. All we need to do is remember to say thank you."

It sounds so easy, right? Just say thank you.

So how come we rarely do it?

Advent draws us closer and closer into the greatest story ever.  It’s a story told and retold in thousands of ways, for literally thousands of years. And with all the ways of telling the tale, it’s critical we get it right.

Bishop Ivan Sikha has built a large ministry in India, and elsewhere, using storytelling.  He uses 20 plus stories from the Bible.  When he trains his storytellers in telling the stories, he shares them orally and then asks the listeners to repeat them.  When they add or delete part of the story, Ivan has them do it again, and again, until it is correct.  Thousands have come to know Jesus Christ through these stories.  And his ministry in India continues to flourish.

I have long wanted to be a person who wakes up in the early morning to start the day with productivity.  

I can see it now:

While I drink my morning cup of chai, I would have my quiet time with God.  I would read the entire Bible in a year, have focused prayer time where my thoughts don’t wander, and keep a prayer journal.

Since I still have time in the morning before my kids are up, I would leave the house for 30-60 minutes of aerobic activity.  Who knows?  Maybe I am training for a half marathon.

I would come back home revived, refreshed, and ready to greet the day (after a nutritious breakfast, of course).

Can you tell this is a fantasy?