Holiday Traditions on Campus

I guess it's that time of year again,you know the holiday season. My wife and I start our holiday season on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving with our annual T-day Devotional. Now I know what you're thinking, "Devotional right before Thanksgiving break?". We'll the annual T-day Campus Devo is a different devotional entirely: we don't start off with singing and I don't preach for an hour, yet it still somehow manages to remain fun. This year, my wife got the ball rolling, spending the better half of a day preparing three turkeys (and I don't mean me and the kids) for the almost 70 students that came to have dinner with us Tuesday night. It's our campus tradition: The students bring the desserts, the side dishes and the zeal; while Danni and I cook the Bird. Okay, I didn't actually cook anything this year, but I did baste the Turkeys when my wife asked me to.

So why do we love this tradition so much? Well, we all get to exercise our turkey muscles two days early. That means we don't go into Thanksgiving with out a warm up. The students must love it, because this year was the biggest it's ever been. We apologize to any mothers who had students that seemed disinterested in the Thanksgiving meal, yes it was all our fault.

Truthfully, we love the holidays, the students that are in our ministry and those coming around for the first time. We have so much to be grateful for and so much to share. I guess I get to exercise my muscles of giving thanks and loving the people God has put in my life and that's why I truly love this time of year. Tuesday, I looked around our packed living room and saw a whole lotta college students joing hands in sincere prayer, grateful for what God had given them. That made me happy. I then looked at the table and was astonished at what the students brought: ham, pies, mashed potatoes, greens, gravy oh my. Jolynne was holding my daughter while Mike Kim had his hand on my son's shoulder. My lovely wife didn't even see me peeking at here during the prayer. I surveyed the room and thought, I am truly one very blessed man. Happy Thanksgiving and let's bring in the Christmas Season.


actual photo of real food brought by students