Thanksgiving

I know... today is Monday, not Thursday.

One thing RC and I love about our new pastor is He doesn't preach a certain message just because of the calendar. On Veterans Day he spoke to us about "Hearing God" and it wasn't until RC and I were on our way home that we remembered it was Veteran's Day. I'm not against any holidays, I'm just not on board with bringing it into the pulpit without God's strong leading.
Anywho...Our pastor was planning to continue his lesson on "Hearing God" this past Sunday but he said that the Holy Spirit led him to Thanksgiving. (the holiday) It was great. Spoke to RC and I on a very personal level that had nothing to do with Thanksgiving. But his main point was that there is so much untruth being taught as truth out there and us Christians are becoming less and less aware and starting to buy into some of it. We MUST (here I go again with the capitalizing) remember. and we MUST remember correctly. So... and little Thanksgiving lesson.
The motivation of the Pilgrims as written by William Bradford (one of the Pilgrims, an eye witness, who was actually there)was "a great hope for advancing the kingdom of Christ."
William Bradford also wrote about the first Thanksgiving. "The Lord sent them such seasonable showers," Bradford writes, "that through His blessing there was a fruitful and liberal harvest, for which mercy, they set apart a day of thankgiving."
Your probably thinking "I know that."
Well, there are teachers and writers who are saying something different. Like Jean Craighead George (a twentieth century writer, not an eye witness, was not there) who wrote in her book called The First Thanksgiving, "the pilgrims left Europe to seek their fortune in the new world." and she says of Thanksgiving "This was not a day of Pilgrim thanksgiving"- thanksgiving to God that is- "This was pure celebration."
This is only one example, but many more instances like this are out there. We must know the truth and we must teach it to our children. Do you just celebrate Thanksgiving, happy to have days off from work, or do you celebrate Jesus with thanksgiving and talk to your children about these things. This holiday is about more than turkey and family and sitting around the table saying what we are thankful for. It's about recognizing our complete dependance on God and His faithfullness in providing. Let's celebrate this Thanksgiving completely and correctly (hearts on Jesus) and lets teach our children to do the same.

OK, I could go on and on, but I won't. I do however want to leave you with one last thing. Lilian Monk stated in her book Old Pilgrim Days "From the earliest period many of the colonists were scholars and thinkers. There were men and women in the wilds of New England whose dignity of character and fine intelligence would have graced a palace. With all it had practicality, it was always a life of books and ideas, of ideals, too, so fine and elevated. Perhaps intense spirituality and intellectual vigor were never more perfectly combined with common sense and the practical management of affairs. These wise old forefathers and foremothers of America were practical idealists, and with keen vision and sure hand they laid strong and deep the foundation of many generations."

Let's follow in the footsteps of our foreparents. Let's combine intense spirituality and intellectual vigor with common sense and practical management of our affairs so we can lay a strong and deep foundation for many generations. It's found in the Word of God.

OK. Tonight I'm going to the Altus Highschool's performance of "High School Musical" with my mom in law and Bobo. Tomorrow I'll write about that and not preach to everyone. Promise. :-)