Today Justin had a day off from yard keeping but sleeping until noon was out of the question. He had two tech appointments scheduled for this a.m. plus one who couldn't keep her appointment because she let the battery get too low and wasn't able to charge it. Something tells me Justin would have been able to charge it for her, but wasn't all that excited about having a third appointment.
His first call was for 9:00 to determine if our neighbor, Ron's, TV had actually died or what. At 9:06 Justin was back, with money in his hand. He came into my room and asked me, "What do I usually tell you to do when something is giving you trouble?" I said, "Reset!" and he said, "Yup! I just reached behind his TV, unplugged it, and then plugged it back in...ta da!" Ron was embarrassed, I'm sure. Justin said when it came back on, Ron just said, "I'll be right back..." and returned with money in hand for Justin. Nothing to this game!
His next appointment was also in the building and also a TV call. Gus got a new TV (he told me his previous one came across on the Mayflower!) and needed Justin to program his remote controls for him. Gus is one of Justin's biggest fans, has mentioned to me a dozen times how handsome Justin looked in his tuxedo (it was actually just a suit) for the wedding. Justin made some easy 'mad money' in a just a couple of hours before lunch!
This evening we had worship with Pastor Lemke as our guest preacher. It was getting to be time to begin and no sign of our pastor. Michael was getting nervous, thinking he'd have to wing it, but had no notes or helps. Traffic is always horrendous and especially so at Christmas. Often folks are later getting to church due to this. Pastor and his wife were coming from Ocala which is a nice long ride in itself. Later we found out he'd tried to call Michael but he'd put his phone away in the briefcase and didn't think about it. We began only a few minutes late, which our members are used to (rarely do we begin our service on time) and Pastor did a tremendous job for us.
The sermonettes were riveting as we learned about 'the dayspring from on high', and 'the key of David'. He somewhat personalized the sermons by calling out to the boys (a family of four boys), drawing their particular attention to a point he was making. Their grandma told me how much she liked that, made them feel involved. More than a children's sermon would do, she said.
After the service the choir met to rehearse for two opportunities we have coming up. On the last Sunday of Advent we are singing two pieces, one an anthem and one the verses of a hymn from the Supplement. And then two new pieces for Christmas Eve. We didn't have enough people really for a decent rehearsal but at least gave it a nice run through. We will rehearse again on Sunday, and possibly a Saturday if folks can make it. I feel much better with more practice time but Kristi has such great confidence in us!
I was so happy to pull onto this property and park my car. Nothing feels better, hardly anything, than getting back home and up to my cozy digs here behind my doors. Justin and I had met for dinner before church at 5 Guys since he had shopping to do at the Mall. He left ahead of me and then we met up. We got over to church without too much trouble, leaving from the Mall. By eating earlier, we didn't have to rush around preparing something after getting home from church and choir rehearsal. Ah, time for bed!
