Well Sunday was an awesome beautiful day after a chilly start with some frost on a few roof tops in the hood. The sun quickly melted that but it stayed rather chilly for most of the day except for being in the direct sunlight and out of the wind. It was a perfect winter day for Florida.
We also found ourselves getting up early around 6'ish as we had to leave for south St.Pete around 8'ish for the Mahaffey Theater where we had a 9 AM meeting and then we sat in on the first of 7 services during the next two days. It was an awesome service with beautiful music and the hour or so service went very quickly. We then got ready to work the second service at 1 PM where we were ushers. I would say in the first service it was close to 1800 folks and second service had around 1500. We gave away nearly 14 thousand tickets for the event which featured lots of things for the kids, games, prizes, etc. which included reindeer, elfs, etc. Our youth did a fantastic job entertaining them in a special area that over looked the waterfront. The message was simple; Christ is the reason for the season and if you take him out of Christmas you just have a mas(mess).
We were broadcasting this all over the world and even to our military in war zones. We left after signing out and one church member who owns a small barbecue eatery near the theater made it known there was a free buffet for all volunteers from BridgePoint. We stopped on the way home and the food was awesome and several of us were taking him up on the offer. Today Monday he will supply the food to the theater for the volunteers but I would definitely eat there again when downtown St.Pete. We had chicken, brisket, ribs, tater salad, mac and cheese and collard greens all for free and as much as you wanted plus a drink. We left a good tip but there was no charge and the picnic tables outside were filled as well. You just had to wear your name tag from when servicing to make it know who you were and then they gave you an arm band. Very nice and the food was marvelous.
Well we dropped the Botbyl's off and then I vegetated on the couch while watching the hapless Buc's lose again. I did set the sprinkler on the back yard gardens and moved it every 30 minutes or so until dark as some of the plants were a little droopy despite all of the rain the past couple of days. The sandy soil and sun and wind dried it out quickly. It was football for me until around 8 when Nancy took over the channel changer so I headed to the bedroom to get ready for bed and watched the late game until 10. The Lightning won the night before and I watched the replay. They are playing great hockey and now are the best in all of the league.
Today Monday will be a busy day as I pick up the rib roast from Publix before we leave around 11 for Brandon as we are meeting at Katie's family for a large lunch and then we will go directly to Davis Island for a service there where Bobby is leading worship. Afterwards we will head home and forgo our usual late evening get together with friends for a change since the Ross Family is now in Kansas safely. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers for their safe arrival. Tomorrow morning we will have the Botbyl's for breakfast and then Bobby and family along with Nancy's sister Betsy's family for supper. Annsley and Gabe will be bored as they will be the only grands at the house but Nancy has plenty of gifts and Gabe can ride his new bike I put together for him, LATER
