Billions Served

Once at a wedding in which I was officiating, I challenged the couple right before the service: "You'll enjoy this wedding a lot if you guys take the attitude, 'This isn't about me. I'm here to serve.'" Seems ironic doesn't it? Isn't the wedding all about the bride and maybe a little bit about the groom? Yes and no. Everyone there has something they want out of it: parents, friends, family--everyone has hopes. It may be the acknowledgment of a gift, a kiss from the bride, communication of affection, or even just a big piece of cake! But they all have expectations.

I know as Christians, we sometimes get flustered: "Christmas is all about Jesus. It's been hijacked by pop culture." I lament over the loss too. It's not fair to Jesus. But in a way, some of the hullabaloo reiterates the truth of Christmas: God came to serve, not be served. (See Mat. 20.28) We've even found a way to serve ourselves on His birthday! Oh, the selfishness of man!

But God is love and Jesus is still serving up joy and celebration to mankind on the day we mark as His birthday. What a Savior we have!

Christmas in July

I have to brag on some of our SummerS.A.L.T. troops. It's so wonderful to hear what our folks are participating in around the city. From D.C. Cafe, to Sunshine Mission, to handing out water at the parks--so many are serving in practical ways.

The picture here shows some real stars in my book. Jay Duncan had a vision to distribute 10,000 Feed My People bags and collect what we could to fill the pantries of this great organization that feeds the needy. After handing out the bags, this group collected enough food to fill over 300 banana boxes, about 2,000 bags!!!


Carol and John DeGuire, the directors, told me that this was the biggest amount of food ever collected for their pantry! They said, "It looks like Christmas around here!"

Rock on, SCCC! SummerS.A.L.T. is having a huge impact!