One of my most fun things is to get are Christmas cards from people who compress the past year into “moments to remember”. As I write this article I am trying to recall as much as I can remember that happened to my ‘church’ family this past year. My disclaimer is this, it is as accurate as I am capable of recalling…but we all know I can hide my own Easter eggs.

We baptized 11 souls into Jesus and counted 3 persons returning to the fold. 18 new members have joined the Lord’s family here in Choctaw, and we were asked to pray for different individuals at least 945 times through our ‘blue cards’. The I.B.C. continues to send Bible courses to the African continent and the harvest is on going as we speak. We purchased a motor coach (and a carriage house to put it in), then took it to Montreal, Canada to pass out 10,000 flyers in two days, for the Ville Emard Church of Christ to announce their new location.

In helping others we gave out brown bags for Christmas to local folks less fortunate than us. Thanks to the help of the Church of Christ Disaster Relief Program out of Nashville, Tenn., we distributed food, blankets, water, baby packages, sweaters, etc. to at least 1,300 families and individuals when there was no electricity to be found in Choctaw, after the December ice storm. We have sent and continue to send “love packages” to our military personnel who are protecting us throughout the world. Our quilting ladies are persistent in making those beautiful quilts for others. We have reached into our hearts on numerous occasions to furnish things like baby clothes for Children’s Hospital to help in the burial of premature babies and help in the grieving process of those parents. We have sent monies to Komsomolsk, Russia for the children’s orphanage, and to missionaries in Africa, Canada, Haiti, and Nicaragua. And on special occasions, there was money raised for those particular needs. All we did was make the need known and help was there.

We have had countless fellowship dinners, lock-ins, baby showers, weddings and wedding showers, area wide meetings, trips with the Golden Travelers, picnics, hayrides, bonfires… and this was not nearly everything that happened in 2007. I apologize to all for all the other things my faulty mind can’t recall.

Now all this is not to brag… although I believe we can be proud. But only proud because NONE of this was done for our glory, but rather each thing was done in trying to serve our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Like the apostle Paul, (1 Cor 1:31), we only boast in the Lord. We asked for opportunities to serve and this is just a small part of the doors the Lord opened in 2007. What will the Lord provide for 2008? I don’t know, but my prayer is that we answer every call that we possibly can.

If you were not part of any of these things in our family in 2007…2008 is a new year, with new possibilities. There is work for us all. Each of us have gifts and talents given to us by our Creator and I believe it’s a salvation issue to use them, don’t you?

As we have said goodbye to 2007 and hello to 2008, let me encourage you to make this the best year of our Lord yet. James 4:15…. "If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that." May God continue to bless us in our meager efforts – past and future. AMEN!