A Very Special Christmas Eve

About six months ago I started attending Family Church in downtown West Palm Beach on the intra-coastal.  I love the people, the message and the fellowship there so I made it my home church.  It’s a fairly big church with several campuses in the area.  I mention its size so you’ll understand that when you generally attend one particular service on Sunday mornings, you usually don’t get to know many of those who attend at other times.

So for Christmas Eve I decided for no particular reason on Monday that I would attend the 4:30 service the next day.  Tuesday, Christmas Eve day was like most Tuesdays; I had some work to do, went to the gym, did a few errands, and the like.  BTW, not that it matters on the scope of things, but I have been fighting a nasty cold for over a week and was only starting to feel better on Monday and Tuesday was marginally better.  Anyway, I got most of my mundane stuff done and was considering what I’d have for dinner after church.  I decided that a nice Caesar Salad with a blackened Salmon or Mahi sounded good, so I went to the freezer to defrost one: only to find that the only frozen fish I had on hand was Alaskan Cod, which is good but it does not “blacken” well. 

Therefore, I decided to run out real fast and get some appropriate fish.  The clock was ticking and the first store was already closed, (closing at 4:00 on Christmas Eve, how dare they when I need something).  So I had to go to another store because when I want something, I want it, and nothing anyone can say or do is stopping me, especially when it comes to my dinner.

So, I went to “Wally World” and I had to search for what I wanted; even if/when one finds an employee there, they usually either don’t know or cannot communicate in my spoken language.  Anyway, by the time I found my frozen prey and paid for it, it was impossible to make it to the 4:30 service.

I then did a few more small things and headed to the church with a lot of extra time.

When I arrived, I parked in what has become my usual spot because I’m a creature of habit and proceeded to walk over by the door.  It was not possible to miss the pony rides happening for the kids and I was wearing a smile from ear to ear as I entered the sanctuary. 

As I said earlier, this is a good sized church with a lot of members, and I don’t think I recognized anyone, but that doesn’t matter because we all gather for the same purpose.  So I just started chatting with this one and that one and was enjoying the decorations and atmosphere.

As the time approached for the service to start and the band, mini-orchestra really, started playing a few pieces, I couldn’t help but notice that the place was PACKED, even the usually closed balcony was occupied.

Then the pastors opened the event and we started with some beautiful music.  We were encouraged as always to greet a few people and introduce ourselves which is my favorite part of any service.  They played another song and suddenly pastor was on the stage again, there was a shift in the lighting and we all got the best Christmas gift we couldn’t imagine or consider asking for; suddenly from the left side of the stage, the President of the United States and his lovely wife entered the room. 

In the next second, we had all recovered from our initial “stun” and the entire church broke out in thunderous applause as they waved and walked over to their front pew seats.

In case you didn’t know it, the president can’t go anywhere without a gaggle of assigned reporters on his heels, and this was no different.  Except that pastor, always a gentleman, politely reminded them that this was a church service and asked them to please wait in the lobby; to which they complied.

So there I was, sitting about twenty-five feet behind the President and First Lady and all of the assembled media was asked to leave; which meant that I was, at least as far as I know, the ONLY member of the media in that room.

I didn’t have anything that I might normally have, certainly I didn’t have access to him, so I did the best I could do with what I had to work with.  I got a photo of the back of his head and I did a very fast post on FB to record the event.  Mind you, I am a very small fish in a very big world of journalists, however I believe that my post moments after he arrived was the first news report that he was there. 

At the time I was way too excited just to be at the same worship service as my president to even think about that. 

However, what I really want America to know about that special moment is this.  Whether you love this man or not; except that he is in fact the President of the United States, he really is just one of us, and for that hour, he was just a local neighbor of the church I regularly attend that came to a service with his wife, and I am so proud that our pastors allowed him the opportunity to be just that without a lot of fanfare.

Merry Christmas America, and Merry Christmas Mr. President and First Lady Melania.  That was a Christmas Eve I’ll never forget. 

And I got to experience it all because I was out of fish…

Addedum: I forgot that I did in fact get a short video of the entrance of POTUS and FLOTUS...!