Thanks for What?

Gobble. gobble, gobble. Loads of tryptophan flooding our systems and making us sleepy after enjoying some turkey. Bellies that are full but still have a little room for something else. Meals shared with family and friends. Conversations in every part of the house. Football games on TV all day long. Snoring men on the couch holding their stomachs. Women sharing recipes and chatting away. Long parades in large cities with marching bands and giant balloon characters. The aromas of food, food and more food filling the house. Laughter at familiar stories we've heard around the table often throughout the years. Cameras clicking as bribery photos are taken. Some people playing dominoes, spades, monopoly, chess, or video games. Some planning their early morning visits to the stores in Black Friday.

What is this day of Thanksgiving all about? Is it about spending time with loved ones and sharing some good food together? Yes. Is it about socializing? Yes. Is it about football games? This one really depends on who you ask. But for many it is a tradition, while for some it is utter nonsense. Is it about big balloons of cartoon characters and marching bands? Not really, but for many this too is a traditional thing to watch or partake in. Is it about making a plan of attack for getting up at 3am in the morning to be at the stores when they open up at 4am for Black Friday? No. But for many this is their best chance to get everyone affordable Christmas presents, it's become a tradition as well for many.

Many can't really tell you much about this holiday other than the traditions they uphold and maybe mention the pilgrims without much more detail given. When was the last time you thought about all the things you're thankful for? Are you breathing? You can be thankful for that. Do you have fresh drinking water? can you think clearly? Can you see and hear? Do you have a bed to sleep in at night and a roof over your head? Do you live in a country where you are free? Do you have a job? Do you have a comb or brush for your hair? Do you know that more than a third of the world don't have combs or hair brushes? More than half the world does not have a mattress to sleep on. More than 40 percent of the world does not have fresh water to drink. More than half the world is not able to bathe every day. More than a third of the world does not know what a tooth brush is. More than 35 percent of the world does not have a regular home to live in. Tens of millions of people live in countries where they have no freedom or security.

We have an awful lot to be thankful here in America. Those who are devoted followers of Jesus Christ have so much more to be thankful for. Yet we forget because we are blinded to how blessed we are. God forgive us.

I am thankful for: salvation, for God's mercy and grace, for the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life, for the gifts and talents the Lord has given me, for my wife, for my family, for my friends, that I can read the Bible in my home, car, and a public place; I can eat, read, run, hear, see; I have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep on, fresh drinking water, a shower, tooth brush, soap, deodorant, clothing, shoes, electricity, a car; I can preach the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ anywhere without getting arrested or imprisoned! I can go to school. I am thankful for air; the stars; the moon; the oceans; for laughter, tears; I can share my emotions with others; I can feel the emotions of others; I can write whatever I feel like writing; I have a cell phone. There is so much I am thankful for that I could keep writing this blog post for the next dozen years or more. God is so good and I love Him. If He were to never do another thing for me again, I still have so much to be thankful for.

I want to take a second and encourage all devoted followers of Jesus Christ with these two verses from Colossians 2:6-7:

"And now, just as you received Jesus Christ as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then, your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."
-New Living Translation

These verses beg the question, what is the condition of your faith? If it is not growing, then there will be little thankfulness and probably more bitterness. Faith that grows will always bear the fruit of thankfulness.

Many years ago I listened to the Christian rock group Petra and fell in love with one of their songs. The title is, "Thankful Heart." Here are the lyrics. Let it be your prayer.

Thankful Heart:

I have a thankful heart that You have given me
And it can only come from You

There is no way to begin to tell you how I feel
There are no words to express how you've become so real
Jesus, You've given me so much I can't repay
I have no offering

There is no way to begin to tell you how I feel
There's nothing more I can say, and now way to repay
Your warming touch that melts my heart of stone
Your steadfast love - I'll never be alone

I have a thankful heart that You have given me
And it can only come from You
I have a thankful heart - Words don't come easily
But I am sure you can see my thankful heart

Help me be a man of God
A man who's after Your own heart
Help me show my gratitude
And keep in me a thankful heart 

Is the Potter Creating or has He Created Everything Already?

Not long ago I was in class my good friend was teaching. We were talking about God and creation. During the course of our time together we talked about God having created everything already that will ever exist. Good points were made supporting that theory. However, a verse came to my mind about God being a Potter. Isaiah 64:8 says, "Yet, O Lord, You are our father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand." I began thinking about a potter as an artist, which they are. I'll share my thoughts with you.

I've actually taken a few pottery classes earlier in my life. Yes, it's true. though a potter works with clay, the potter is always creating, just like an artist. An artist never paints or creates the same thing over and over again. Where would we be if all Michaelangelo painted over and over again was the Sistine Chapel?How boring it would be if all Leonardo Da Vinci painted everywhere was Mona Lisa? What if all we saw around us were Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night?" How boring and redundant that would be. Its splendor and magnificence would be lost.

If very person from the past, present and future were all alike, what would that be like? There would be no individuality. We'd all be the same height, weight and color. We'd all sound the same. We'd all have the same personalities and mannerisms. All our clothes would be the same in style, color, and size. There would probably be only a few types of perfumes and colognes. There would be nothing to distinguish us from one another. But yet, we're all different.

What if, like the movie "Groundhog Day," every day was exactly the same? What if each sunrise and sunset were exactly the same every day? What if every single moment of every day was exactly the same as the previous one? Some people like predictability, but even that would drive the sanest person crazy. Think about the Tom Hanks movie, "Cast Away," where he was isolated and alone on an island after a plane crash. Every day the same. Boredom everywhere you look. Mundane life. Unhappiness. Melancholy.

Could you picture God bored? If He is the Creator God, then He must be always creating. The universe is ever expanding, even scientists agree on that one. How is that possible? Simple, there must be a Creator. No two sunsets or sunrises are the same. No two people are exactly the same, even identical twins are the same. Their DNA is similar but distinctly different. Their fingerprints are different. People from Africa are different in language than British people are. There are various sizes, colors, and shapes of all peoples from the same country and even from other countries. Unborn babies will look different from anyone ever born before. Tomorrow's day will go much differently from today for all of us. We'll see someone new in our day as we travel. A child may walk for the first time. We might see a sunset we've never seen before. Perhaps a star will fall from the sky, which might not have happened today. Perhaps a woman will get pregnant for the first time. Perhaps a doctor will perform a routine surgery in a new and revised way.

God is always creating because He never slumbers or sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4). He's always working. A Creator creates just as a painter paints. Never the same thing created the same way twice. God doesn't use molds, He makes everything fresh.

Good Samaritan-itis

There are many things that all human beings have in common. We all get sick at one time or another. We all die, as a matter of fact one out of every one persons die. We all grow from the moment we are born, emotionally, physically, intellectually, and spiritually. We all feel horror of watching someone get mugged and beat up. Whether you live in the rain forests, the mountains, jungles, or big cities, we all poop the same way, out of the same part of the body. We all need air to breath. We all feel pain. We all need water to drink. We all cry. We all laugh. We all feel the grief attached to the death of a loved one. We are all the same on the inside, physically, lungs, heart, veins, organs, blood, no matter what ethnicity you are, black, white, brown, yellow.

We all feel compassion when a tragedy happens like the horrors of the 9/11 attacks on the United States, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, the Tsunami that hit India, the earthquakes that hit China, Hurricane Ike that hit the coastal cities of Texas, etc. All of a sudden people from all over the world want to help. I remember when the attacks of 9/11 happened and firefighters from all over the world went to New York City to help out. These are people from other races, ethnicities, religions, all coming together to help. Even enemies came to help out. I remember growing up in the late 1970's when New York City was hard hit by a major power outage. Neighbors who didn't get along were helping each other. It was strange to see blacks and whites helping each other without regard to racial tensions or differences. Everyone treated one another as equal and with compassion.

It seems at times like this that it is somehow inside of all mankind to forget what separates them politically, religiously, racially, and in other ways, in order for acts of compassion to flow through them and towards those in distress and in deep need. I wonder why that is.

If mankind evolved out of a chaotic event, and chaos is seen in everything around us, how can all mankind have the same reactions to these events? You don't see animals reaching out to help those in need. I mean if we evolved from apes, wouldn't apes then be helping us in times of distress? There would be some kind of feeling in them to help us, wouldn't that be a logical assessment?

I think it is way simpler than that, but harder for many to believe. I believe that God, the Creator has built the capacity for compassion and love into all mankind. Why would all human kind have compassion like this and not each and every species of animal? Since some believe that we are linked to and have evolved from animals? How could compassion, so uniform in all humans come out of chaotic event that caused evolution, according to scientists? They are unable to explain this. Don't get me wrong, I'm not an animal hater. I've had several dogs throughout my lifetime. I've rode horses and swam with dolphins. I saw my own dog save my mother's life once. I've heard of heroic acts by dogs and dolphins, but, they do not have the compassion of human beings. It's just that I've never seen a dolphin walk in dry land to save someone from being mugged. I've never seen a cat moved by compassion to start raising funds to meet the needs of the people in New Orleans. I've never seen a horse swim in the ocean to save someone from drowning. I've never seen or heard of a discovery of half human, half animal hybrids walking around. Where's the linkable evidence?

I believe it was God who gave human kind the great capacity for love and compassion. I believe God built some scriptural instincts in us to do these things. The scriptural instincts come from Proverbs 24:11, "rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering to slaughter." Proverbs 25:21, "If you enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink." Ephesians 4:32a, "Be kind and compassionate to one another..."

Could you do me a favor? If you ever see a dolphin walking on dry land and helping someone, a cat raising funds for the needy, or a horse swimming to rescue someone, would you let me know? While you're at it, take some pictures and you'll be a millionaire in no time!