IT'S NEVER TOO LATE!

I didn’t take time to write this morning because I had to get myself ready to go downtown to catch the bus at the Cultural Center that was taking the seniors to Mayfield Banquet Hall for a program called Old Fashioned Cabaret.  I was not planning to go because the cost of all of these outings have continuously increased and I felt I could not be spending my money on things like that, but one lady who had bought a ticket was unable to go due to severe illness and her money could not be refunded, so I was asked if I would like to go in her place.

We were told to come at 9 AM to get checked in and that the bus would be leaving at 9:30, but it was late.  It stopped at one of the other centers to pick up a few people.  We only had about 20 people total and a few years ago we used to have twice that many go, when my friend and I went together.  At the banquet hall, a DJ played music and many people danced, especially when they did line dancing music.  Since you don’t need a partner for that it is very popular with seniors.  After they played their music and while the servers were starting to bring the food to the tables, a singer named John Vincent sang Frank Sinatra songs in his style and he did one Louis Armstrong number too.  Mr. Vincent regularly sings at Mike Ditka’s Restaurant.  Our group leader had heard him before and had made some small signs that we held up and waved to show our support.  His mother came to our table and talked to one of the ladies to thank us.  

While we were eating a very nice meal, served family style, the Ron Smolen Big Band played and some people danced to their music, but not many.  They were playing old time big band songs.  A couple of us knew the words to a lot of the songs that were played today and we sang along, but not loudly enough for people at nearby tables to hear us.  When the band took a couple of breaks, they drew numbers for an auction they had sold tickets for at the door.  Only one person at our table bought some and no one from our bus won anything.  Most of the prizes were $5.00, then they got to a couple of CD’s of the band and $10.00 and last a $100.00 grand prize.

I came home and relaxed a bit, talked to my friend on the phone and then went across the street to the church for my first business meeting there.  They had financial statements of our giving for the first six months of the year and Pastor Williams spent a good deal of time saying the giving had decreased and people had not been giving their tithes consistently or giving the full 10% that is the tithe.  As he was saying though, our church does not do any fund raising or pressuring people to give extra or make pledges, etc.  We just ask people to be faithful in giving their tithe and offerings if they have extra to give.  As he keeps pointing, the more we give to God, the more He will bless us but it is not the amount that makes the difference, it is the spirit in which it is given that matters to Him.