Christmas Party

Every year we have a joint Christmas party for the adult Sunday school classes. We ask anyone who wants to sign up to decorate a table in the dining hall. I think this is a fabulous idea. It takes pressure off any one person to decorate and it gives members a chance to show their creativity. I wish I had more pictures of the other tables but they weren't decorated when I did mine.
I used an idea I saw on Lifetime, putting my own twist on it. The white balls are styrofoam with plastic "snow" glued to it. Snowballs. The candles are peppermint scented. It's my belief that smells bring back long forgotten memories so I try to incorporate smells into my decorating. Even for Vacation Bible School. Except last year. The theme was sports related and I don't think anyone wants to remember what a locker room smells like.

Anyway, we always have a good time at our Christmas parties and they are well worth remembering.

God's Girls

We have a program at church called God's Girls. The focus is to help the girls grow in their relationship with Christ and with others and to help them learn new things, new skills and possibly discover the talents God has given them. Each month we have an "Interest Day" to help accomplish this goal. Following are some pictures of one of those days. They learned how to make purses without sewing! Maybe I'm biased, but I think they're very creative.

Refiner's Fire

This was sent to me in an email. I thought I'd share it here.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.

That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.