You can always fit more people in than you think you can. This has been proven over and over, but we just proved it once again. 

I remember in the 70’s – before seat belts were a must – we would, at times, pile insane amounts of people into cars.

Sometime we would do it for fun, but mostly it was out of necessity. We frequently needed to transport more people than there were available seats in the vehicles. It was routine that we would go somewhere with friends, often sitting in the back seat, squished between two guys, with two or three girls sitting on our laps. 

It was similar to a gang tackle in football, only we were under the pile a lot longer. 

Sometimes we would shoehorn so many friends into a car that we had to ask someone to move a bit so we could shift gears. For long trips that wasn’t bad, but for city driving it meant for a lot of moving parts.

Well, for the first time in 24 years, we hosted the Christmas meal at our home. We really should have done it the first year we moved back to Ontario – we would have had a few less people. But having the whole family for Christmas dinner at our place this year, as apposed to 24 years ago, created an even bigger space issue. 

In 1996, 6 of the 14 family members at the meal were 7 and under. Not now – everyone is an adult – no little people anymore. 

We have a dining table that seats 8. With some creativity and ingenuity from my wife, we were able to up that to 12 people. That left 6 people eating standing up, so we brought in a folding table that extended into the living room.

It was going to work we could fit everyone in. But when everyone started to arrive and the tables were set up, it didn’t leave a lot of room for people to mingle. 

There were people sitting in the living room but then a whole lot of others standing around the perimeter of the room … much like a bunch of junior highers at a school dance.

 Fortunately we soon saddled up to the tables and got down to some serious eating. 

And when dinner was over, we pushed the extra table against a railing in the living room and shortened the dining room table. People spread out to other parts of the house; some went downstairs to the family room. Before too long the family was fitting in the space.  

I’ve been to parties where there was a crowd in every room you entered, wall-to-wall people. It was not nearly that bad … certainly not too crowded for a day.

The day after I was talking with a friend and told him about the 18 people we had over to our little home and he just smiled at me. Then he said, “We have 16 people living in our house all the time.” 

… Maybe we should have the whole family over every weekend.

Here’s the thing: People have joined God’s family for over 2000 years, putting their faith in Jesus Christ. We don’t know when Christ will come back, but one thing we know is that there will always be room to fit more in. So if you have not joined God’s family by claiming Christ as your Saviour, the time to do that is now.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: How can you strengthen you family ties? Leave your questions and comments below.