Frosty the Bellman
If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one describes a little bit about what my world is like right now. I am currently sitting on a plane imminently taking off for Hong Kong. It’s been a good week but tiring. I stayed at the Santa Clara Hyatt and had a neat incident one cold morning. My colleague and I walked into the parking lot to discover not just my car, but all the cars, heavily coated in ice and frost. I quickly started the engine and defrosters. Anti-freeze splashed across the windshield in attempts to gain enough visibility to drive. Clearly this was going to take a while… then out of nowhere a terrible sound started against my window. “Huh?” I thought.
I peered through the small hole taking shape in the frost. Staring back at me was a deathly cold looking gent from the Belldesk with an ice-scraper in hand. But he wore a determined look on his face – no frost would enslave any Hyatt guests! He quickly cleared the driver’s window and windshield. I rolled down the window to thank him. He smiled and waved while walking away to find another frost encased car with helpless driver inside.
Now THAT is what I call unexpected service! I wish I had a picture of the two of us eyeball-to-eyeball, separated by the car window. You’ll have to imagine the scene instead.
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Baptisms at Calvary Chapel
I am in the US on a business trip for the week starting with meetings first thing Monday morning. Last night, after arriving into Silicon Valley, I did some quick shopping then dropped by Calvary Chapel San Jose for their 6 pm service. I knew I was in the right place when I walked in and one of my favourite songs, "Hosanna" was being played by the worship team.
I soon found out the service included about 10 – 15 baptisms. After the sermon the worship team kept on playing while in the background two pastors prayed for and baptised several individuals. It was a real treat to be there. Pictured here is a boy waving to the congregation immediately following his baptism.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17
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Baptisms at Calvary Chapel…2
The Worship Team @ Calvary Chapel, San Jose
Nativity Play at Union Church
As we lead up to Christmas in the season of Advent, there are lots of activities underway at church. Today was the Nativity Play and all four kids played angels… golden angels. You can see them in the picture below but only the top of Sebastian's head on the left, behind all the other golden angels. the Tantalizing Tess was also in the play as a Shepherd. Fitting considering she shepherds four kids all the time and often more given the kids' busy social lives! I must say, though, Tess is the most beautiful shepherd I've ever seen!
The sermon that followed impressed upon us how a fifteen minute play, timed to fit tightly into a service that included a sermon and Communion, doesn't do justice to the commotion surrounding the birth of a child, let alone the birth of Jesus. However, for so many people, that's how we relate to Christmas: a rushed, hit and run event. Even Sebastian commented that the play was too short and only a few people had lines… mainly the narrators!
No Nativity Play would be complete without some sort of "kid moment." As you can see each golden angel is wearing a gold crown. As the kids came down from the stage, with the choir singing them off, Jasper hung back. Seb's golden crown had come off. Jasper kept asking, "Seb, where's your hat!?"
I have a new Blackberry that allows me to post pictures remotely. Do you like the more regular updates?
Making Crystals
Sebastian got a new science set for his birthday. While Tess and the girls made goodies for Tess’ Christmas bake exchange this afternoon (yes, Tess invited back the gals for another round of cooking quota wars) Sebastian and I cracked open his science set. Here he is making “real” crystals, as Seb said, “not crystal BABIES!” According to the instructions, in four days Seb should see some fully formed crystals. Seb also got “Mario Kart Wii” and while the mad scientists were in the lab – ok, the bathroom but isn’t that a great place for a lab? – JJ snuck a long turn at driving. “Watch out for the big fat ball and banana peels, Jasper!”
