“Is it going to rain?”  That was the thought on our minds as we prepared for annual Christmas Party.  The clouds had been getting darker all afternoon as we decorated our yard with colorful Christmas decorations.  

The staff from YWAM East Timor were in Bali for their staff retreat and we had invited them to join our celebration.  Also invited were friends and family of two of our staff who were getting married that same week.   One of the evening activities was an American tradition of everyone decorating their own home made Christmas cookie!  Another was “Put Jesus in the Manger” – our variation of “pin the tail on the donkey”!  We had friendly fellowship over a delicious dinner.

The main event of course was Carols by Candlelight.   We had hung flags from different countries as a reminder that “God so loved the world…”.  If there were no Christmas, there would be no Easter.  Worship was joyous.  The presence of the Lord reminded us that even though there is much turmoil in the world, for a moment there was “Peace on earth”.   Oh – in case you were wondering – it started to rain ten minutes after guests had left and  everything cleaned up.  God is kind!