How Long Until X-Giving?





How Long Until X-Giving? 


For most Christ has been successfully removed from X-mas. There is nothing so removed from the life and love of Christ as buying innumerable made-in-China gifts from Walmart, Target, and Amazon in an appallingly corrupted celebration of His birth. 

How long will it be until the thanks is removed from Thanksgiving. Let’s forget the ‘thanks’ and concentrate on the ‘giving’. What an inconvenience and embarrassment it must be to the politically correct, a holiday totally devoted to God, for Who is it to that we are giving thanks other than God? Are we thanking one another? Are we thanking the government? Who do we thank for the blessings bestowed upon us other than God. 

The corruption of Thanksgiving has long been underway. . . Black Friday. So very aptly named. People trampling, kicking, even shooting one another, right after our national day of giving of fervent thanks to God. How short our apparent memory. . . 

Love God with all your heart, soul and mind. . . love your neighbor as yourself as you elbow him or her out of the way to grab that $89 big screen TV before they do. Getting up one day a week to worship God and save your soul, is too much trouble, but arising at 2 a.m. to go stand for hours in the dark and cold outside of a big box store to save a few dollars is well worth it. 

Let’s spend this week before Thanksgiving, truly giving thanks. Spend some time each day, telling God how grateful you are for all the blessings in your life. 

If you are going through a rough time, ask Him to please reveal to you the things He has done for you. 

My back was turned on Him for the first 45 years of my life. I thought He did not exist, until one day, He revealed to me how time and time and time again, when I should have been severely injured or even killed, something. . . something always occurred to prevent disaster. 

When seen all strung together, those 12 or 15 events, like beautiful pearls on a string, were revealed to me to be His Hand protecting me, even when my back was turned to Him. . . Flipping a quarter, and having it come up heads 12 times in a row is not luck, but the Hand of God. . . My unbelief was gone. 

Since that day, over twenty years ago now, my heart has been filled with gratitude for what He has done for me, and shame that my eyes were closed for so long. I’m so sorry, that I once was completely blind to Him. . . BUT!!!! Now I see. 

I worship Him and give thanks every day. . . Give Him thanks. . . and offer Him a gift, this Christ-mas season. . . Choose a way to draw closer to Him in the coming year. . . Give up something that stands between you and He. Take a small step toward Him. . . 

Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. 
(James 4:8 NLT) 

I love You my God. . . 
I give You thanks my Lord for everything You have done for me. . .

<3

Dave 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When Your Mother Dies. . .

Lessons learned when you were four become much more meaningful. . . The temperature of the whole world chills a little. . . Toll House cookies are no longer merely a snack, but a monument. . . Mothers day changes from an obligation to a craving. . . Sometimes the air thins and you gasp for breath just sitting in a chair. . . Crying for Mommy returns after a fifty year absence. . . You lose something vast and precious that you didn't even know you had. . . You crave being held and hugged all the time. . . The last time you spoke to her is now at the bottom of a big ache. . . Tears are found in totally unexpected places. . . Never again. . . her magical home made vegetable soup. . . wonderful green beans, potatoes, and ham that aren't falling apart and soupy. . .meat loaf with just the perfect amount of ketchup on top. . . those just right crispy fried potatoes. . . never again. . . for ever. . . Your chance to repay an enormous debt is lost. . . You lose
Read more

Mother's Day 2007

My mother had a stroke on May 1st. The doctors said that she would be a vegetable. . . I write these words a few days before Mother's Day 2007. This morning my sister and I met my Mom's doctor to discuss her future. I am appreciative of what he is trying to do. He wants us to begin thinking of things that we want to keep covered and out of sight. His experiences with similar cases, I am sure are valuable to him, but this is not a usually or a most often, this is not a past history, this is my Mom. She lies critically ill in a bed, unconscious, receiving her nourishment, and air through a tangled umbilical of hoses, lines and cords. We grasp at every positive hint. We make excuses for dark signs. This is our Mom. . . God made Eve from Adam's rib. I came from someplace deeper and much more intimate than a rib. I suspect (being an outsider to the mystery) that the tearing, the parting of birth is both physical and emotional. Birth being only the first wrenching separation in
Read more

How to Find a Great Church. . .

Image
or Beetles and Bell Curves. . . The following is expanded from a talk that I gave at a men's meeting at the Elkhart County Jail March 11, 2009 Many years ago I heard on the radio, or read in a magazine or book, or saw on television. . . I just cannot remember even what medium I saw this on. . .anyway,  a scientist talked about what he could deduce about God from the design of the universe.  This man's response fascinated me and I have continued to ponder upon it for some twenty or twenty-five years after hearing it. This scientist said that he could tell two things about God from the design of the universe.  The first being that God has an inordinate love of beetles.  Zoologists have catalogued roughly 700,000 species of insects and almost half of those are various kinds of beetles.  Of all living plants and animals roughly 20% of that entire number are beetles.  That was the first thing that this scientist noticed about God's creation. The second thing was that God must gr
Read more