Small Business Saturday

TODAY is the first-ever Small Business Saturday!

Today is meant to be the "Black Friday" for small retailers and is intended to draw shoppers to the many small shops in our downtown area and in the small strip malls throughout McKinney.

Today is a day for us all to come together in support of the many small businesses we love here in McKinney.  The shops and restaurants that employ our neighbors and reinvest our money in our hometown. The businesses that are the heartbeat of our community and local economy...today is a day to celebrate them! 
So...head to downtown McKinney today! You can enjoy Dickens of a Christmas, do some Christmas shopping, eat at one of the great restaurants downtown and see Follow the Star live nativity.  Show times for the live nativity today are 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm.   Best of all, the shops are open until 8:00 pm tonight!

AND, wherever you live, support your local hometown merchants!
See you there!
debi

Thanksgiving

We Gather Together

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

'We Gather Together' was originally a Dutch song of praise written in 1597 to celebrate a war victory. Eduard Kremser translated it to Latin in 1877 and to English by Theodore Baker in 1894
 
Psalm 67:6

The land yields its harvest; God, our God, blesses us.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

"The unthankful heart...discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!" - Henry Ward Beecher

Dickens of a Christmas & Follow the Star

This weekend is the Big Dickens weekend in McKinney.  I will let Beth, from On the Square, keep you up on all the happening in downtown McKinney.  She has a great blog and stays on top of all the happening in downtown McKinney.  If you are EVER wondering what to do on any given weekend (in downtown McKinney) she is the "go to" person! 

Me...I want to highlight one aspect of Dickens...Follow the Star - A Light in the City.

Follow the Star is more than a nativity

You can enjoy a one-of-a-kind Christmas experience at Follow the Star – A Light in the City, a live nativity production hosted by Christ Fellowship (formerly McKinney Fellowship Bible Church). This production is for the entire family, and was re-created this year to be a memorable part of McKinney's Dicken's of a Christmas event in downtown McKinney.
Live animals and more than 80 people dressed in period clothing will share the greatest Christmas story ever told. Drama, lights, sets and an interactive Bethlehem Marketplace will transport you to the world as it was 2,000 years ago.
Located at the corner of Louisiana and Church Streets, downtown McKinney.
     Show times: Friday, Nov. 26, 5:30 and 7:30 pm;
                        Saturday, Nov. 27, 5:30, 6:30 and 7:30 pm.
     Interactive Bethlehem Marketplace open prior to each performance.

Free admission!!

Be sure and stop by.

Till tomorrow,

debi

Thanksgiving Thoughts

"Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now." - A. W. Tozer

Sunday Thoughts - Thanksgiving

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
Come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God's own field, fruit unto His praise to yield;
Wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.

For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take His harvest home;
From His field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
Giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring Thy final harvest home;
Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide;
Come, with all Thine angels come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Penned by Henry Alford in 1844 for 'Psalms and Hymns' and is sung to the tune of 'St. George's Windsor' composed by George J. Elvey in 1858.
Psalm 69:30

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving.

 

Sunday Thoughts

People, Look East

Words and Music: Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965), 1928

People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.

Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.

Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.

Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.

Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.

Luke 2:13-14
Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Garage Giveaway

I thought I would have some "can numbers" to report on how many cans were collected for the Scare Away Hunger event...some of the churches and grocery stores have reported, but not all.  I'll give you the final number once I know how many total cans were collected!  I'll keep you posted!

(Garage Giveaway 2009)

However, if you missed sharing in the Scare Away Hunger event there is another opportunity for you to give.  Coming up this weekend in McKinney - Garage Giveaway!  On Saturday, November 13 Christ Fellowship (formerly McKinney Fellowship Bible Church) is putting on a community wide Garage Giveaway & Social Ministry fair at the Christ Fellowship Campus! This give-away will resemble an enormous garage sale, but there’s a catch: Everything is free!


 
Everyone in McKinney can donate items to the Garage Give-away! You know you don't really want to sit outside your garage with your few offerings when you can make a huge difference in your community by bringing them to the Garage Giveaway with 1,000's of other items. 

Downsize, thin out, clean out, give away any of the following gently used items:

• household items
• gently used clothing for any age
• small appliances in working condition
• toys
• books
• usable computers and electronics
• kitchen ware
• small furniture
• usable linens.

Please pre-sort your donated items.

 

Donations will only be accepted on Thursday, November 11 from 4-8 pm and on Friday, November 12 from 7 am to 5 pm at the Garage Giveaway site at Christ Fellowship (2801 Orchid Drive, McKinney, TX 75070). They will NOT take the following items:

• car seats
• baby wash tubs
• cribs
• playpens
• highchairs
• any shoes
• gas grills
• any form of flammable liquid.

 

 

The most important thing to remember is it’s not about the Stuff, it’s about the hearts of those that are touched through this exciting ministry. This is an incredible opportunity to provide “Blessings From One Person to Another.” Free stuff always gets peoples attention, and 1,000's of donated items are needed.

  

Along with the huge care give-away, they will be providing personal care services, food, games and much more to all who come. That means there will be hundreds of volunteer opportunities from Thursday, November 11 to Saturday, November 13 for you to be involved. Sign up now to volunteer

 

Any event this BIG needs hundreds of volunteers...volunteers just like you to touch all the lives God will bring that weekend. Sign up now to volunteer!!

 Isaiah 58:7

"Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

Till tomorrow...
debi

Sunday Thoughts

If Jesus Goes with Me

It may be in the valley, where countless dangers hide;
It may be in the sunshine that I, in peace, abide;
But this one thing I know—if it be dark or fair,
If Jesus is with me, I’ll go anywhere!

Refrain:
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!
’Tis heaven to me, where’er I may be, if He is there!
I count it a privilege here, His cross to bear,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

It may be I must carry the blessed Word of life
Across the burning deserts to those in sinful strife;
And though it be my lot to bear my colors there,
If Jesus goes with me, I’ll go anywhere!

But if it be my portion to bear my cross at home,
While others bear their burdens beyond the billow’s foam,
I’ll prove my faith in Him—confess His judgments fair,
If Jesus stays with me, I’ll stay anywhere!

It is not mine to question the judgment of my Lord,
It is but mine to follow the leadings of His Word;
But if to go or stay, or whether here or there,
I’ll be, with my Savior, content anywhere!

Charles A. Miles, c.1908

Matthew 8:19 (New Living Translation)

Then one of the teachers of religious law said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”