Dear SCC & Friends,
…in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Update #38
This Thanksgiving has me thinking about a mission trip I was on a few years ago. We had spent several days in a very poor mountain village in northern Cuba. I was the guest of a local pastor, and by 10:00 p.m. was very tired and ready to sleep from a full day of travel and ministry. As the saying goes, “No rest for the weary.” One by one people started showing up in Pastor Misael’s tiny living room until we were packed to the gills. Misael asked me to bring a word of encouragement. The Cuban church has certainly suffered over the past 60 years, and government controls are very stringent…everything from housing to food rationing…not to mention very limited religious, economic and social freedom. It was mid-November, so I shared that each year our country celebrates a special holiday called Thanksgiving. I told the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, how our nation was born in faith, hardship and sorrow…over half of the 102 on the Mayflower voyage died within a year, but those who survived set aside time for thanksgiving to the Lord. They were absolutely amazed that the United States had such a day and had never heard of such a thing. It was heartwarming to see their reactions, and to hear their own stories of gratitude even though they had so very little in terms of material comfort. We talked late into the night. I was still tired, but it was a good tired, a humbling and hopeful tired…Thank you, Lord…
The truth is, being thankful calls for more than having everything going our way. We really have little else to offer the Lord other than our sacrifice of thanksgiving expressed in and through our lives. We are called to enter His gates with thanksgiving in our heart and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him…for the Lord is good…Ps. 100:4-5Being thankful regardless of circumstances requires grace, humility and faith. We too often focus on what we don’t have rather than being thankful for what we do have. Jonathan Swift wrote in Gulliver’s Travels that ingratitude was a capital offense. I imagine we would all be incarcerated at some time or another if that standard were applied to us…But today we focus, and today we give thanks…I will give Thee thanks with all my heart…Ps. 138:1 Thank you Lord for the sacred journey you’ve given to each one of us. Keep up the good work. God bless you and yours!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Kevin