Meet God

The holidays are over and a new year begins. I love the Christmas season just like any other red-blooded American, but I'm going to be really honest and admit that during this last week of the year I'm just holding my breath for it to be over. The joy of the season is great and all, but I'm the type of person who is just ready to get back to business. I want to jump back into the routines of regular everyday life. Staying with family is wonderful, but I want my own bed. Eating at restaurants is a blasty, but I'm stinkin' ready to eat some plain old rice at my own table. I like routine.

I also like looking ahead to the new year and planning ahead for the Creek. I'm very excited about a new series we are starting in January called Hello, My Name is God. I read a story of a kid who, when asked to draw what he thought God was, drew a picture of Santa Claus. Maybe God acts like Santa in our lives sometimes, but that is a very incomplete picture of who He is. It makes me wonder how many of us operate in our faith with an unfinished picture of the God we are trying to follow. Through this series in January we are going to work our way through key passages in the Bible that illuminate aspects of God's nature and his personality that will shed light on who he really is to us and what it means to follow a God that we can really know.

Holiday Sausages

So we had our Christmas Smackdown overnighter last Friday and IT WAS AWESOME! Granted, I am getting to an age where staying up all night is the equivalent of getting punched in the kidney over and over again by Andre the Giant, but even considering the effects of sleep deprivation and old age I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

The competition was intense, but the highlight of the night was a game called Holiday Sausages. Here's how 'tis played (emphasis on 'tis for Christmas effect):

Select two representatives from each team. Have the two people sit in front of each other (each on their own side). A person from one team is chosen to start by asking a person from the other team a question. They can ask any question, but the answer must always be the same “Holiday Sausages”. The person answering must not laugh or smile, and if he does so successfully, his team gets a point. If he laughs or smiles, his team has to ask the other team a question. Everyone plays this until all have had a turn or two. Whichever team ends with the most points is the winning team!

Some of the questions we had were real winners. I've done my best to remember them to list them below. If I've forgotten any of the best ones, feel free to remind me.

What did you bursh your teeth with this morning?
What time is it?
What rhymes with Holiday Snausages?
When there's something strange in your neighborhood, who you gonna call?
Who let the dogs out?

Try it sometime. It might change your life.

Christmas Smackdown

Christmas Smackdown is this Friday night and we are going to blow it up. I've been going through the plans for the night and I cannot wait...