Monday Morning Download

Yesterday was one of the best days EV-VER at graystone. The kids did a great job singing, quoting the Christmas story and playing instruments. I appreciate Katie and all the volunteers who put so much hard work into this year's Children's Christmas Program. Thanks again Larry Whitten for building the "singing Christmas tree". Several people said to me, "You do not realize how many kids are at graystone until you get them all in one place." True. There were over 70 3-5 year olds and over 70 elementary kids who participated in the program. I'm pretty sure that they would not have fitted on the small stage in the old warehouse. I'm a little sad that yesterday was Julia's last Graystone Children's Christmas Program. But in Christmas of 2011, Jessie will be up there with the 3-5 year olds singing, ringing bells, and climbing all over the place. BTW, Owen McKnight looks a little like Ralphe from A Christmas Story...cute kid. Actually, all the graystone kids are beautiful, but I do think the 3 rapping kings stole this year's show.

On a more serious note (not really), the MS Mullets lost in a barn burner over the weekend to Go Ahead Make My Day (Andy Petrunich) in the GFFL (Graystone Fantasy Football League) Playoffs. We were the two highest scoring teams during the season but in the end, GAMMD had too much fire power for the MM. But if Quinton Ganther goes off tonight on MNF, I'm gonna be ticked because I benched him at the Flex position in leu of a sub par performance from Sidney Rice. Wow, that was way more fantasy football info than any of you EV-VER cared to read. But this is Johnny's Blog and Monday Morning Download.

I'm full. I've already started my feasting for the holidays. Last night, the kids spent the night at their GA Grandparents. Thanks Jerry and Kay! And Jennifer and I went on a triple date with good friends to Pappadauex's. One of my tennis buddies, Alex, is the manager and he hooked us up with some appetizers and desserts. But I did not stop there. For my entree, I had the Crawfish Platter: fried crawfish and crawfish etoufee. All day Saturday, I was eating on a Boston Butt that we bought to support the Grayson Bandits Travel Baseball Team (Brice), and we will have the 2nd butt for Christmas Eve. OK, it took me awhile, but I finally made it back to a topic of real significance...CHRISTMAS EVE.

I am so excited about Christmas Eve at Graystone IN THE NEW BUILDING! It could be the best Christmas EV-VER. God has put a powerful Christmas message on my heart, and I know that Kyle and the Band will do a tremendous job leading us in classic (and not so classic) Christmas music. Also, there is quite a bit of humor peppered throughout the service. It will be a great night of worship for the entire family as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Two words of encouragement:
1. Invite EVERYONE you know. It will be one of those services where you will be thinking to yourself, "I wish _______________ was here."
2. Get here early, so you can sit together as a family. This year, we have two services at 3:00pm and 5:00pm.

Merry Christmas!
Johnny

PS Check back later for my thoughts on The Elf. I may try and upload some video footage.