This is the forty-third update for the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief fund for the Lake Pontchartrain North Shore. This includes the Covington, Abita Springs, Mandeville, Slidell, and New Orleans, Louisiana.

This is the weekly update from Pastor Sprague of Trinity Evangelical Free Church of Covington, LA. What would you do with $50.00 if your Church gave it to you to help someone else? That is exactly what Trinity Church did last Sunday. Read:

“Weary, Yet Getting Excited in Louisiana

Anyone that really knows me knows that I love the Christmas season. There is not much I don’t enjoy – the sights, smells, and sounds of Christmas, glittering trees, the squeals of children’s excitement, good food, giving of gifts, traditions, extra time with friends, the opportunity to re-establish ties and reminisce with family and the message of the Christmas story where I am reminded, “I matter to God”. I love all of that, and usually my sense of anticipation starts early. However, I think my internal calendar has been off a little bit this year and my expectation for Christmas didn’t start being turned on until this last Sunday. This may have been for several reasons:

1. Maybe I’m just kind of weary from the workload.

2. Maybe it’s because I haven’t really operated off of a calendar in 3 months. It’s hard to believe that Thanksgiving is over and December is here.

3. Maybe it’s because my home is still a wreck with construction, painting, trees being cut down, and piles of debris lining the road in front of my house awaiting FEMA to pick it up. There are no decorations up, only dust.

4. Maybe it’s because my parents recently moved to a distant place and I no longer will return to my boyhood home and the place where I celebrated Christmas for the last 43 years. Christmas plans are still up in the air.

Yet, last week, a suggestion from one of my staff members started to change my perspective and get me thinking about Christmas. Tuesday night I made a mental note that at my Wednesday staff meeting we needed to start planning for Christmas at Trinity. When I arrived early on Wednesday, Liz, our bookkeeper, had already stopped by the church even though it was her day off. She thought she had a stirring from God the night before and told a staff member to pass an idea on at our staff meeting. If it was from God, we could use it, if not, we were to discard it. The staff loved the idea! I sensed it had the fingerprints of God all over it and expressed the outrageously generous heart of Jesus.

The idea was to purchase 370 fifty-dollar gift cards from Walmart and have them available in envelopes on Sunday morning to give to Trinity members. Trinity members would then pray and ask the Holy Spirit to prompt them who to give the cards to. In this way, the Trinity family would be empowered to go out in the name of Jesus and express the love of God to someone who was needy or needed encouragement. People could be creative if they wanted to and buy a turkey for someone, or buy Christmas presents for needy children. If they wanted to, they could cook a meal and invite someone over to express love at Christmas. Others might just give the gift card to someone to select what is needed.

For me, the Sunday service was energizing and thrilling to watch teenagers and families pick up an envelope. Some immediately knew who to help and others would wait on the Lord for direction. Each person was given a blank letter to record the story of how God used the free gift. I can’t wait to hear! I am ready for Christmas now. Jesus was right. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive.

Betting the Farm on God,

Pastor Michael Sprague

P.S. Many thanks to the churches and individuals who have given to us so we could purchase the gift cards to help the needy this Christmas. You are appreciated. Please pray this week that Trinity people will have 370 divine appointments! (8:16 PM 12/06/05 CST)”

What would you do with a $50.00 Wal-Mart gift card if your Church handed it to you out of the clear blue sky? Who would you help, and in what way?

These questions can only be answered by you, and you have been given $50.00 gifts many times over. How will you help someone less fortunate than you, this year?

Grace Team 3 returned safely early Sunday Morning December 4th after their short-term mission trip serving with Trinity Church. They had a wonderful time working, helping and witnessing. I am thankful for their service and for their safe return.

Grace Team 4 will have their first Informational Meeting at Grace Community Chapel on Sunday afternoon December 18th at 4:00 PM. All those interested in serving with Trinity Church in Covington, LA on January 11th – 15th 2006. Please come and have your questions answered.

Please contribute to the combined efforts of this blog and Grace Community Chapel of St. Peters, MO, in raising money and volunteers for ministry teams to be sent to Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Covington, LA, to be distributed locally to the Lake Pontchartrain North Shore area, you will find detailed donation information by clicking here.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2005 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Katrina North Shore Relief. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

Tags: Hurricane Katrina, Katrina, New Orleans, North Shore, St. Tammany Parrish