Monday, November 19, 2007

Giving Thanks

It's foggy out...a cold front is coming and it is the week of Thanksgiving. Likely it will 'feel' like a perfect holiday. I will go out to my moms and we will have Turkey, Corn bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans as well a sundry of other delights. We will eat until nausea sets in and then watch a meaningless ball game and most importantly just be together as family. 2500 miles away my friends will be huddled around candle light in Johannesburg, they will be eating from a community bowl a substance called 'pop'. It's like 'grits' only thicker. With great joy they will give thanks for the bounty and provision of the Lord and they will mostly give thanks for people and mean it. At thanks giving we should all take a packet of red stickers and walk around our homes and place a red sticker on everything temporary...house (temporary), car (temporary), table (temporary), sports (temporary), food (temporary), and then in blue we should label everything that is eternal...Mom (eternal), Dad (eternal), Kids, wife (eternal) and the actions that influence the lives around us toward Christ (eternal). That way when we are sitting at Thanksgiving we will be able to keep it in perspective of what/who we are thankful for and what it's all about. In Johannesburg they won't need any stickers.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been meditating on your statement "the actions that influence the lives around us toward Christ". I love it! ACTIONS - INFLUENCE - LIVES - AROUND - TOWARD - CHRIST Thanks for the encouragement!

Anonymous said...

Pastor Jeff,

That is a great idea to help keep Thanksgiving in perspective! I want to share that with my family, so I'll be off to the dollar store tomorrow to get some red & blue stickers. God bless you Pastor Jeff for your eternal sharing heart.

Kyle Burkholder said...

we love you and miss you.

thank you for remembering us.

we had prepared a little something for thanksgiving here:
$1 a day (a thanksgiving story)

Anonymous said...

Pastor Jeff,
Don't you just love how God made our bodies to constantly need a meal of food? I believe that when we pray over a meal, it isn't just praying for the food but it is a reminder of how much we need God in our lives and how thankful we are He is.

I am thankful for you, Pastor Jeff, I am thankful that you are a person with a passion for the church and that you have a blatant honesty that needs no apologies.

I love to come here and be challenged in my thinking.

I am spending Thanksgiving day travelling to see my 2 year old nephew. It is my Christmas present to myself early this year, I like you decided awhile ago that materialism is just empty. I got rid of my cable and use the money to support a child in a third world country, instead.

I am thankful for friendship, fellowship, my church, my family, and that God gives me life full of wonder and challenge.

Happy Holiday!
Sara Gwathmey