Open your bubbles with me to John Chapter 3. John Chapter 3, I have a message

this Christmas that I'm calling the Thousand Mile Tree. The Thousand Mile Tree came

across that phrase in my research that I did months back for our series The

Golden Spike, The Year End Journey towards Christmas. This time of intentionally

getting our hearts right for Christmas worship, where like the wise men, many

of us in the church have been preparing a gift and traveling so far to bring

many across the church. I believe all 50 states we've seen generosity come in

from and people continue to each each moment pound their spikes, drive their

spikes, believing God for expansion in 2022 and all the way up until New Year's

Eve. Honestly, we'll see people really just hear the Holy Spirit and that's

all we've ever asked with The Year End Giving is that you would ask God what he

would have you do. That I'm not telling you to do anything but that I'm just to

say would you ask God what he would have you do and that's what we've seen God do

with people with an open hand say I believe for increase, I believe for a golden

spike, I believe for new opportunity but that's all amazing but while I was

researching for all that, I came across this photo is an ancient photo taken in the

Year 1869 by Andrew Russell of a tree with a sign hanging from its branches that

says a thousand mile tree. This was taken about four months before the the

golden spike was driven and what the story behind it is beautiful that when they

realized they were a thousand miles from Omaha the Union Pacific team were

coming, coming west. They looked at their maps and they went wait a minute we

were a thousand, can you believe we've made it a thousand miles? I mean there was

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