Unified… Christmas Party Re-cap

Unified’s Thanksgiving, Christmas Party, Love Train Extravaganza

Good evening ohana, this is my take on today’s gathering at beautiful Kapolei. As always, please fill in where I prove deficient.

For me, it was an amazing day of fun and fellowship, capped off by an amazing victory and season. I’m still coming down from Kaiser’s victory over Kauai High at the Aloha Stadium today. Guess what the score was? 17-7. It was also Kaiser’s 13th victory. This is crazy! This seventeen/thirteen thing, phenomena, marker, sign, or whatever you may want to call it, continually fills the spiritual atmosphere of our destiny as a church. We even had 17 tables at the party. I need some smelling salts right now. “Okay, I feel better. I can continue.”

As Pastor Dean shared this past week, this is God’s way of saying that we are walking in the sweet spot of God’s perfect timing. Yes, that’s how I would summate today’s party: we hit the sweet spot.

It’s fitting that we had our party at a golf course. In golf, like any type of ball meets stick sport, it’s not about striking with brute force, but hitting the right spot, the sweet spot. We got a hole in one today when it came to living and rejoicing as family. We hit the sweet spot of true fellowship. We walked as ohana. I believe we also touched the sweet spot of God’s heart through our love, joy, and unity. God’s presence filled the time. His smile warmed our hearts. He commanded the blessing (Psalm 133). I felt it. We felt it.

It is a new day in our church. A mysterious, overwhelming, wave of God’s momentum continually surges us forward into the future. I cannot explain it any other way. The blessings of God are overtaking us. Deut 28:2 states, “All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God.” Let us continue to plunge the paddle of obedience into the turbulent but promising waters of life as we travel on the Unified… canoe. The blessings will surely follow and overtake us. It’s already happening. It’s now splashing on our feet and head. “Hut, Ho!!!!”

The spiritual naval officers of seeking God’s perfect timing, Pastors Dean and Kerry, have deftly navigated our outrigger into these exciting, uncharted waters of fullness and we now reap the benefits of a fresh and evolving jubilee season!  “John, that’s good!!!” I thought I do a Bill Johnson on myself through the medium of writing. Ha!

The whole day was filled with fun, excellent, and spirit satisfying fare like: Carrie’s A-plus administration of the whole event; Pastors Rodney and Michelle’s witty and uproarious MCing; the over-the-top, generous raffle ticket gifts; the amazing song and dance mixes concocted by the Arias ohana; the highly competitive and fun Christmas carol game (Happy Birthday almost snuck by, but alas, it got beeped or buzzed); the heart inspiring and stopping sound of the thunderous taiko drum performed by the Netsu’s; the delicious buffet spread that brought great joy to all our opus; the beautiful love train we formed in the end. There were many more things that I could add to this list, but if I did, there would not be enough books to contain the rich treasures of today. For some reason, this sounds very familiar to a Biblical passage in the Gospels of John, but I am serious. How can you capture all the richness of today in one article? Everyone and everything were awesome!!!!!

“God serves no wine until it’s time!” It was worth waiting these last four years for our first all church Christmas party. It was the right time and season for this wine to be served. The flavor and richness of this wine carried the bouquet of the fruits of the Spirit and the tannins of deep wisdom. Again, I cannot explain it in any other way. It was the right time. It felt right in our spirit. It set us on the right course for 2014 and beyond. Unity can have that mysterious and powerful effect on the life of a church.

Isaiah 43:18-19 states, “Do not call to mind the former things, Or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.” The Love Train has departed the station of the past and we are now moving inextricably toward the bright Son of the future. Today’s party carried this joyous momentum of God’s Spirit. He has made all things new. It is marvelous in our sight. Sweet dreams everyone. Love you, folks.

PJ