Join me on an ADVENTure...

The Christmas season is full of hustle and bustle, shopping and giving, traveling and cooking... we stay so busy that we often forget the reason we are celebrating... sure we go to church on Sunday or a Christmas Eve candle light service, but how many times to we actually stop to meditate on the real reason for the season ( I know... I went there...) The overused phrase echoes through our minds during the holiday, then passes quietly out of sight until the next Christmas season.
Christmas has always been a favorite holiday of mine... it brings back great memories of family. The familiar smells that trigger a magic that seems to be forgotten as soon as its December 26th... this year is different for me... the magic is still there, the scents still trigger the familiarity of old memories... I've changed... It's not about what I can get anymore... (gifts are great, don't get me wrong... they just aren't my focus anymore)
Last year didn't feel much like Christmas, and I was determined that this year would be different... well, I got my wish... this past year has been very different. Once upon a time, I swore that I didn't want to have anything to do with ministry, marry someone who wanted to be a part of ministry, or even really be near those who wanted to be in ministry... (just being honest... actually, the thought of ministry scared the daylights out of me... still does on occasion, if I'm really honest). This past year, God has been working on me a lot... ministry wise *gulp*... and the culmination of this year brings me to the reason for this blog today... ( I know, get on with it already...)
With all that has been going on this past year, I've really been overwhelmed by so many things... one in particular was the fact that (and I am speaking to myself more then anything with this...) I've been so focused on my part in the ministry and my role in my life and my book and my Bible study... do you notice an overabundance of the word my in that last statement... I did. I was so focused on me, me, me... that I forgot that its a ministry... that's supposed to be focused on God instead of me... God gave me the words to write, the ideas to blog about, the passion that I sometimes overwhelm people with... He gave me that and I have been overlooking that. Earlier this year, I was presented with the 31 day challenge... where you blog each day for the month of October... and what started out and my favorite songs, turned quickly into studies on worship... and that's when it hit hard... I was so busy trying to be awesome in my own strength that I had turned the focus to me, instead of God.
This Advent season is no different... I wanted to do a blog series during Christmas and nothing was coming to me... so I stopped, switched my focus to God and suddenly I was writing so fast that I could barely keep up with my thoughts... The Advent season, thanks to the creative-ness of my two friends Kristine and Victoria on Twitter, ADVENTure was born.
Each Sunday will present a theme that will be explored during the week, either with a short devotional or song.... (wow, I'm really verbose this morning...)
All of that to say, Join me this Christmas season (it will run all 31 days of December^_^) for a wonderful ADVENTure that will explore the themes of hope, love, joy and peace starting Decmeber 1st!