THANKSGIVING

     Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States commemorating the harvest of the Plymouth Colony in 1621.  The event followed a winter of great hardship. When it was first inaugurated, only a few eastern states participated.  However, through the efforts of Sarah Hale, a change was affected.  She pleaded long and earnestly with three presidents: Fillmore, Pierce and Buchanan during the period of 1852 through 1856. A small measure of triumph was granted in the year of 1852, when her campaign succeeded in uniting 29 states in marking the last Thursday of November as “Thanksgiving Day.”
Then came the dark days of the Civil War. Who would listen to a lone woman with her persistent plea for “just one day of peace amidst the blood and the strife?”  One man did. Her entreaty won the ear of a great American and in 1863, President Abraham Lincoln officially proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day set apart for the national giving of thanks unto Almighty God.  Lincoln lived to see only two such occasions but Sarah Hale lived well on into her late 90s, content that her long cherished hope had at last become a reality.
 
     Thanksgiving is more than a day on a calendar or more than a day with “turkey and trimmings.”  It is because of Jesus that we cry out with praise and worship.  We owe everything to the love, grace and mercy of Him who gave Himself on Calvary.  He gave up heaven for earth. He gave Himself into the hands of sinful men that He might give out His unfathomable love to all who would receive Him. He gave Himself for us, that there might be forgiveness of sins. God so loved us that He gave us His Son.  We remember that love and give thanks.
A CHISTIAN IS A PILGRAM NOT A TRAMP.

     A tramp is a vagrant, a person who wonders from place to place without purpose or a settled home. We are a people on the go. But, may we learn that it isn’t enough just to be going. We must be going some where, we must be going in the right direction.  The real issue is not so much where you now stand, but most important, is in what direction are you headed. 
     George Mark Elliott’s title to his book expresses our issue, “What on Earth are You Doing?”  May I add, “For Heaven’s sake.”   The answer is found in being a pilgrim not a tramp.  May you have a thankful thanksgiving.

P.S. “Thanksgiving is thanks-living.”

NO CONDITION TO ASK FOR ANYTHING

Fulton Oursler tells of an experience when he was a small boy, dressed in his Sunday best and warned by his mother not to leave the front steps.  “We’ll be walking over to see your aunt” she promised.  He waited obediently until the baker’s son came by and called him a sissy. Then, little Fulton sprang from the steps and hit the baker’s son on the ear.  The baker’s son pushed him into the mud puddle, splotching the white blouse with slime and leaving his stockings with a bloody hole in the knee.  Hopelessly, he began to bawl. When the affair was over, forgetting his disobedience, young Fulton rushed into the house and asked his mother for a penny to buy ice cram from a peddler who was going by.  He said that he could never forget his mother’s answer.  “Look at you. You’re in no condition to ask for anything.”  
 
     Oursler said that many a year passed after that incident before it dawned on him, “that often, when we ask help from God, we need to look at ourselves; we may be in no condition to ask Him for anything.”

     Many times God cannot answer our prayers because we are not ready for His answer or we are in no condition to be used by God in His answer.
 
     Prayer is NOT asking God to change His world to suit our own selfish needs.
     Prayer is NOT giving God His orders for the day.
     Prayer is NOT a lifeboat to be launched only in emergencies.
     Prayer is NOT magic to be used to get what we want.
     Prayer is NOT in reality getting what we want.
     PRAYER IS PLACING OURSELVES IN GOD’S HANDS SO THAT HE CAN DO WITH US AND IN US AND
     THROUGH US WHAT HE WANTS.  

     Prayer is simply God’s children communicating with Him.  Prayer is not so much asking for something as it is a means of getting close to someone, even God.  We do not believe in prayer, we believe in God who has given His children the privilege of prayer.
First John 5:14 “This is the confidence we have in approaching God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

THE $215 CASKET

     Convicted murderer Richard Ligget died of cancer and was buried on prison grounds in a $ 215 dollar casket last March. The casket was of his own design, one of many he had already made for other convicts who had died in prison.  Last June, Ruth Graham was laid to rest in a casket costing exactly $ 215 dollars and made by Richard Ligget.
     Their funerals certainly must have been different.  The prison chaplain conducted the service for Mr. Ligget and a sparse number of people attended.  Mrs. Graham’s funeral was nationally televised and attended by three former Presidents of the United States.
     Their lives were different. In one violent act, Mr. Ligget took a human life and spent thirty years in repentance and punishment for it.  Mrs. Graham spent her entire life celebrating and encouraging others in the life of Christ. 
     One great thing binds Richard Ligget and Ruth Graham together more than a $215 dollar coffin.  No matter who we are or what we have done, our entrance into heaven is based upon one thing, as explained in John 11: 25-27:  “I am the resurrection and the life,”  Jesus told His friend Martha. “He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  “Yes, Lord,” Martha replied.  “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
                (This was written by Captain Jim McGee of the Salvation Army)

     I wanted to share this story with you because it shows how impossible it is for us to judge the soul of another human being.  We look on the outward appearance.  In our eyes, there is no comparison between Ruth Graham and Richard Ligget.  But, God looks on the inside of a person. I would say, of course Ruth Graham should go to heaven.  But, I am not too sure about Richard Ligget.  Isn’t it good and wonderful that I do not make this determination for any human being?  God alone judges the soul of a person. He judges by motives, intents, desires and inner struggles of the person.  He knows their heart.   Please, leave eternal judgment up to God.
     We claim the promise of eternal life with God by loving Him. If we love Him, we will obey Him and if we obey Him, we have His word that He will take us Home to be with Him.  TRUST HIS WORD.

PRESSING ON

     There is no short cut to greatness.  Days and years must be spent in purposeful action.  The renowned pianist, Paderewski, practiced 8 hours each day when on tour. Madame Guiomar Novaes, one of the great living pianists, spent two days before a concert in practice for that one performance.  Baseball’s matchless, Ty Cobb practiced base running and sliding until his hips were raw and his uniform stained with his own blood. Winston Churchill, whose speeches are classics, prepared each address with the utmost care. Someone remarked with truth, “Sir Winston has spent most of his life working on his impromptu speeches.”

     Being a Christian is a growth process.  We never become a journeyman, a skilled worker.  Christians remain lifelong apprentices, learners.  This is what Kierkegard meant when he said his vocation was becoming a Christian. He felt that no one ever was a Christian but some were on their way to become such.  

     This understanding is important because it warns us against the arrogance of thinking we “possess” Christ. We do not possess Christ, Christ possess us. Sometimes, we are tempted to congratulate ourselves on our virtues and on the absence of vices in our character. But, this can only be done by closing our eyes to our own incompleteness. None of us have attained unto Christ nor arrived in our Christian life.  The whole business of living is to grow in our relationship with God.   How are you doing?

     Listen to Paul as he wrote in Philippians 3: 13-14:  “Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.  But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

     Keep on keeping on becoming a Christian, Christ like.