Mike Edmisten Follower of Jesus. Husband of Nicki. Father of Ryan & Brock. Communicator of the Word.

Two Trips

Just got back from my second trip to the grocery store. Told you so. (See my previous post.)

Smells Like Christmas Spirit

We're hanging out at my parents' house today. Right now, the ladies of the family are busy in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies. Before you think that I'm some kind of male chauvinist since I'm not helping, you need to understand that I just returned from the grocery store to buy all the forgotten ingredients. And I'm quite sure that I'll be going again. And probably again. So for the moment, I'm just enjoying the delicious smells that are wafting out of the kitchen.

Family. Cookies. Gotta love Christmas.

Counting Down

The countdown is on in the Edmisten household. My sister gave our little boy, Ryan, an advent calendar. Starting on December 1, we have opened up a little window each day on this calendar. Of course Ryan loves it because there's a little piece of chocolate for him inside each window. It's a fun way of counting down the days until Christmas.

We also have a snowman calendar. Each day we pull off a number and we can see exactly how many days are left until Christmas Day.

We don't count down the days for any other holiday of the year. We don't count the days until President's Day, Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, Bastille Day, or Boxing Day. But each year we have a countdown that builds the anticipation of Christmas Day.

Christmas has always been about anticipation. People throughout the Bible's Old Testament were looking forward to God's Messiah, or the Anointed One. This Messiah was going to bring peace and joy to God’s people. The nation of Israel had a rough history. There were many hard times and the people looked toward Messiah to rescue them. This wonderful child was so anticipated that many Israelite women prayed that they would be the mother of God’s anointed One. Israel’s entire existence was one of expectation. Every Israelite spent his/her life looking forward to Messiah. They lived each day with an anticipation of that first Christmas.

It's exciting to watch my family's anticipation of Christmas grow with each passing day. We're looking forward to opening gifts, being with family, big Christmas dinners, etc. But we have already received the greatest gift. We already know the gift that those Old Testmant folks could only dream about. Jesus has come. Better still, Jesus is coming back again. Now that's something to anticipate.

Time to Brag

I barely remember yesterday. My wife, Nicki, tells me that I went to church. I think I even preached, although I can't be sure of that. I was pretty sick on Sunday morning and I honestly don't remember much of what happened. It's all kind of a blur.

Yesterday afternoon was the annual Christmas parade here in Amelia. Our church handed out free hot chocolate and cookies to parade watchers. I was really looking forward to meeting and interacting with the people of our community at the parade, but I felt so lousy that I just couldn't make it.

This morning I talked to Brian, our youth/worship minister. He told me that everything at the parade was really going great…and then there was a very scary accident right in front of our church building. A little boy fell down and his leg was run over by one of the trailers in the parade.

Brian told me that the people of our church sprang into action. They immediately began to comfort the child and his family, they called 911, they prayed with the family. And their prayers were answered. God took care of this little boy. He could have had a broken leg or even worse, but it turns out that he was fine.

It makes me very proud to hear how our people responded to this situation and turned it into a ministry opportunity. I am blessed to serve with some really awesome people. I hope you'll excuse me for bragging a little, but this is the caliber of people that are in our church family.

May I Rant?

When I lived in Indiana for 3 years, I was converted into an Indianpolis Colts fan. The Colts became my #2 team. I was still loyal to my hometown Bengals as my #1 team. I'm not so sure about that anymore.

An eighth Bengal was arrested this year. Deltha O'Neal was arrested on a DUI charge last night. Here's the best part. This happened just up the street from my house. I've gotta admit that I'm pretty ticked off about that. I could have been driving with my family in the car at that same intersection.

Eight arrests in one year. Who Dey? Who Cares?

Go Colts.

Operation ELF

Everyone is getting into the holiday spirit. Even police officers. In Orange County, Florida, the Sherriff's Office has launched Operation ELF: Enforcing Limits and Fining speeders. A deputy dresses up in an elf costume and clocks cars on a radar gun. Then he dispatches an officer on a motorcyle to pull the speeders over. Operation ELF nabbed 150 speeders in just two hours yesterday!

Most of us move a little too fast during the Christmas season. I took Ryan shopping today so that he could get his Mommy a Christmas gift. I've gotta tell you, there is nothing slow about Christmas shopping. Almost everyone is in a hurry. And in a crowded store, that means that almost everyone is in a bad mood.

And then there was Ryan. He didn't care about the hustle and bustle. He was just excited to pick out Mommy's present. I chose to slow down to his pace and just enjoy the moment while everyone else around us was running full-speed. That made our shopping trip a whole lot more fun.

Slow down. Take it easy and enjoy the moments this season offers. If you don't, there may be a radar-packing elf around the next corner.

A Misfit Message

It is now Wednesday and I'm still thinking about this past weekend. I've written a couple of posts about APEX, but I haven't yet talked about the incredible morning we had on Sunday.

I started a new teaching series called "Christmas Specials." In each installment of this series, we'll watch a clip or two from a Christmas TV special and then explore the simple, Biblical truths that are taught through those clips. This weekend I used a couple of clips from the classic special "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer." If you've seen the special, you know it's all about a couple of misfits trying to find out where they belong.

There is actually a place where misfits belong. That place is the church. And that's great news for all of us since we're all misfits!

God did some amazing things as we talked about this basic gospel truth. We saw many tears, we had people come forward during our time of decision, etc. I talked with several people afterward and they told me how God's message impacted their lives and the lives of some people in their families.

As I listened to these stories, it was another reminder to me of God's perfect timing. I've had this series planned for over six months. I obviously had no way of knowing that certain people who really needed this message would be present on this certain day.

Sunday reiterated a very important truth: it's not about me. God sets up these divine appointments with people. God touches hearts and changes lives. I have the unbelievable privilege of preaching God's message, but I can never arrogantly believe that it's about me. I just pray that God will continue to work through me. And I'll do my best to continue to stay out of his way.

Worship on the Walls

More thoughts on APEX. As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the worship elements we used at this APEX was a writing/art element. We hung large pieces of butcher paper all around the room and then we turned people loose to walk over to the paper and write, draw, and create a worship gift to God.

This morning I unrolled the pieces of paper and read some of the letters that people wrote to God. I wanted to share a few of them with you.

"Why, God, would you die for me? I'm unworthy of your awesome sacrifice. Thank you Jesus!"

"Jesus, you're all I need. Take this offering, my heart, my life…It's my offering to you. Lord, I'm intoxicated with you."

"Thank you, Lord. Thank you for all you've given me for the past month. You knew how much I needed you. Thank you for the strength you've given me. I love you. I always will."

"God, I love you more than I can write. I wish that I could give you more than my life, but I know that's all you want. I will give you unending praise for the rest of eternity. I will never stop. You are my best and closest friend."

"I don't know how to sufficiently put into words how grateful I am that I've been able to come to know your awesome power…"

"You're amazing. I'm sorry for not remembering that at times. I want to know you more. I want to never doubt your amazing love again."

"God, I don't know what to write…but I'm writing this for you. I want to give you all that I am, all that I have, all that you can use me for. (It's really hard to do this without asking you for something.)"

Mike's note: If you read my previous post, you'll remember that our challenge for this evening was to thank and worship God without asking him for one single thing.

"Thank you God for the blessings and trials in my life."

"I love you, God." (written by a child)

No Strings Attached

APEX was this past Saturday and we ended our "Who is Jesus?" teaching series by focusing on "Jesus: The Gift." The entire night centered around this question: What can you give God in return for his gift (Jesus) to us? The answer: You give God the only thing he doesn't have but desperately desires. Your worship.

We focused the entire evening on worship. We intentionally did not ask God for anything. We didn't sing any song that asked God for something. We didn't pray for God to do anything. That's actually not an easy thing to do. We are so accustomed to asking for things, but we wanted this night to be set apart as a gift to God. And I know God appreciated it, because he blessed us even when we didn't ask him to!

There is something special and significant when God's people totally surrender themselves in worship. And we didn't just worship through singing, although our band did a great job leading that part of our worship. We worshipped through a video-led prayer. We worshipped through art and writing. We worshipped through the reading of God's Word. We planned a ton of different elements throughout the night, but they were all designed as a worship gift to God.

As you're running around looking for gifts for your spouse, your mom and dad, and your great aunt Margaret, don't forget that God deserves your very best gift. He deserves your worship. No conditions. No catches. No strings attached.

Doctor Shortage

I spent an hour and half sitting in a tire shop today. One of the tires on our Escort was damaged beyond repair, so I had the joy of purchasing a new tire. That's right. One and a half hours to buy a grand total of ONE tire. Yee Haw.

The majority of my wait was an utter waste of time. The TV in the waiting area was tuned in to The View. Oh joy. I spent most of my time flipping through magazines that I couldn't care less about. That is until I found one that had an article about The Battle of Gettysburg. I'm into Civil War history, so I began to read. And I learned something fascinating. I already knew that it was an incredibly bloody battle, but I didn't know that there was a great shortage of medical personnel on hand.

Neither the North nor the South had ample field doctors in that theater because they didn't expect this battle. They expected a big battle to happen elsewhere, so the vast majority of their medical personnel was moved out of Gettysburg. Many soldiers lost their lives because of this mistake.

The church can never forget it's role. We are a hospital for people who have been bloodied in life's battles. We are a M.A.S.H. unit on the front line, ready to accept those who have been wounded by the attacks of the Enemy. The problem is that we often forget this mission. We become complacent, not really remembering that there is a battle raging. And so we move our resources somewhere else. We spend our energy on things that make us comfortable. We focus on ways to please ourselves. Meanwhile there are people who are dying all around us. Our role is not that of a maintenance man, whose job is to maintain the status quo and make sure everyone is happy. Our role is that of a hospital staff, ready to assist the Great Physician when another wounded person comes our way.

When you walk through the doors of your church building this weekend, look around. Is there someone there who is wounded or hurting? If you said "no," then you didn't look long enough. Every weekend our churches are filled with hurting people. The question is will there be enough medical personnel on hand to do the job?