Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
John 1:48 ESV

As some of you know, we are knee-deep in Christmas caroling at nursing homes. (Which helps explain the avalanche of videos I’ve been posting). Here is an inside peek, Today’s event was such a lesson in unexpected blessings that I could hardly wait to share. This morning we arrived at a facility, to which a couple from our church recently moved. Though we had never done a program there, the activities director heard that I do music and so she invited us for caroling. Filled with excitement, song books, and gifts, five of us, showed up ready for some Christmas cheer, but we were met at the office with a notice that there had been another Covid outbreak. But before the groans and disappointment took over, we learned that two of us could come in if we tested negative (took 15 minutes) and we had to sing only in the halls and with masks on.

Of course, just as Nathaneal asked if anything good could come from Nazareth, I wondered what good could possibly come from the abrupt turnabout of our plans. But God is a much better planner than any of us, and we found that by trailing the director through the wards, we actually were able to sing for many residents who could not have made it down to the dining hall. Then on our way out we met some would-be carolers who had stopped in from a nearby facility. They were being turned away at the door, so Santa and I went outside and sang with them instead. We left exhausted and yet filled with the sense, that God had blessed us unexpectedly way beyond anything we could have imagined or planned. It just remined me that we must hold not only our possessions, but also our plans lightly. When we let God take control of the direction of our one-horse open sleigh, we will be amazed at what He has in mind for a destination!