Comments on: Giving Thanks… http://voices.crossandcrescent.com/art-hebbeler/2007/11/20/giving-thanks/ a Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity publication Fri, 16 May 2008 03:30:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Glen Alan Graham http://voices.crossandcrescent.com/art-hebbeler/2007/11/20/giving-thanks/#comment-8873 Glen Alan Graham Sat, 08 Dec 2007 15:49:57 +0000 http://voices.crossandcrescent.com/art-hebbeler/2007/11/20/giving-thanks/#comment-8873 <p>Many thanks to you, Brother Art, for this message. I'm reading it several days after (8 Dec.) -- but as the Good Book says, we who follow Christ are to "rejoice evermore" and "in all things give thanks" (KJV). Your words give me another reason to thank God today -- and every day -- for my Brothers in the Bond!</p> <p>Your words also call to my memory a posting I made at my blog site www.glenalans.blogspot.com last year, to celebrate the holiday. And here it is [w/minor additions for this '07]:</p> <p>To God I give thanks for. . .</p> <p>Today is Saturday, 25 November -- two days after the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Even tho' citizens of these United States are thereby encouraged to give thanks -- to Whom? -- annually, we who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ KNOW that the giving of thanks is NOT just a ONCE-a-YEAR thing. Immediately I consider the Apostle Paul's words in his first letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 5, verses 16-18. And there are so many other places in the New Testament letters PLUS teachings of Jesus the Nazarene himself in the Gospels, which make crystal clear the crucial importance of thankfulness in the life of the believer.</p> <p>So, here is a list of SOME of the many things for which I am thankful at this time in A.D. 2006. I thank our God and celestial Daddy for. . .</p> <p>. . .simply being who He, Abba, is: the great "I AM", holy, holy, holy, almighty, all-knowing and all-wise, faithful, "good all the time!"</p> <p>. . .loving us unworthy, sinful, humans so much that He sent the very best He had to offer us: His only Son, His living Word, His very image -- Jesus!</p> <p>. . .this day -- and every day that's gone before.</p> <p>. . .my family -- both my blood relations and my Christian brothers and sisters [including of course my Brothers in the Bond of LCA].</p> <p>. . .having a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food for my belly. And for two seasonal jobs that may not pay much, but do provide those three essentials, plus a bit more. And these two jobs are both ones I very much enjoy, as I serve others. They are my substitute teaching at Alamo Heights H S and Jr Sch, and my at Fiesta Texas themepark.</p> <p>. . .life here in San Antonio -- with her diversity of cultural heritage along with civic unity, her festive atmosphere year-round, and her origins as a mission station of the Spanish Franciscans [and, may I add now in '07, three lively LCA zetas and area alumni group].</p> <p>AND,</p> <p>. . .His call on my life here and now, to serve in the Emmaus spiritual renewal movement and the Kairos Prison Ministry.</p> <p>To God our Abba, Savior and "breath" of true and everlasting life, BE THE GLORY and THANKS -- forever! ! !</p> Many thanks to you, Brother Art, for this message. I’m reading it several days after (8 Dec.) — but as the Good Book says, we who follow Christ are to “rejoice evermore” and “in all things give thanks” (KJV). Your words give me another reason to thank God today — and every day — for my Brothers in the Bond!

Your words also call to my memory a posting I made at my blog site http://www.glenalans.blogspot.com last year, to celebrate the holiday. And here it is [w/minor additions for this ‘07]:

To God I give thanks for. . .

Today is Saturday, 25 November — two days after the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Even tho’ citizens of these United States are thereby encouraged to give thanks — to Whom? — annually, we who love and follow the Lord Jesus Christ KNOW that the giving of thanks is NOT just a ONCE-a-YEAR thing. Immediately I consider the Apostle Paul’s words in his first letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 5, verses 16-18. And there are so many other places in the New Testament letters PLUS teachings of Jesus the Nazarene himself in the Gospels, which make crystal clear the crucial importance of thankfulness in the life of the believer.

So, here is a list of SOME of the many things for which I am thankful at this time in A.D. 2006. I thank our God and celestial Daddy for. . .

. . .simply being who He, Abba, is: the great “I AM”, holy, holy, holy, almighty, all-knowing and all-wise, faithful, “good all the time!”

. . .loving us unworthy, sinful, humans so much that He sent the very best He had to offer us: His only Son, His living Word, His very image — Jesus!

. . .this day — and every day that’s gone before.

. . .my family — both my blood relations and my Christian brothers and sisters [including of course my Brothers in the Bond of LCA].

. . .having a roof over my head, clothes on my back and food for my belly. And for two seasonal jobs that may not pay much, but do provide those three essentials, plus a bit more. And these two jobs are both ones I very much enjoy, as I serve others. They are my substitute teaching at Alamo Heights H S and Jr Sch, and my at Fiesta Texas themepark.

. . .life here in San Antonio — with her diversity of cultural heritage along with civic unity, her festive atmosphere year-round, and her origins as a mission station of the Spanish Franciscans [and, may I add now in ‘07, three lively LCA zetas and area alumni group].

AND,

. . .His call on my life here and now, to serve in the Emmaus spiritual renewal movement and the Kairos Prison Ministry.

To God our Abba, Savior and “breath” of true and everlasting life, BE THE GLORY and THANKS — forever! ! !

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