Giving Thanks…
November 20th, 2007 by Art Hebbeler. Popularity: 74%.It’s that time of year again, at least here in the States (our Canadian brothers celebrated Thanksgiving last month), and we turn our thoughts to giving thanks. Well, at least we should be doing that. The reality is that our current focus rests on one or more of the following (in no particular order):
- Preparing for final exams
- Finding a post-graduation job
- Seeing the parents and family
- Eating too much turkey
- Watching too many football games
- Getting up WAY too early to fight WAY too big crowds on Black Friday
All of these, and a lot more, are facing us this time of year. My Christmas shopping list is longer than it needs to be, and for once, I probably won’t overdo the commercial side of things. Black Friday is just another day to me, and I’ll simply stay home and relax a bit. The kids are all grown, and 2 of them won’t be home for Thanksgiving as it is, so family time is just me, the wife, 4 corgis, 1 poodle, and 6 cats. I doubt we’re even cooking this year.
But that’s OK, because there is still much for which I can give thanks. My sons are all doing fairly well in their chosen vocations. My chapter is just about out of debt with Indianapolis. My health is still good. I have thousands of brothers to call on (but no, you all are NOT getting gifts this year!). My alma mater (Butler) has a good basketball team to make it easier to forget about our football team. The level of violence in Iraq and Afghanistan is declining, even as it seems to be increasing in places like Detroit, St. Louis, and Baltimore.
I even give thanks for the approaching new year, even if the political campaign ads and stories are too much too soon (Sorry, Brother Ron, but that includes you, too!)
Most of all, I give thanks to God for all the great blessings He has bestowed upon me. All that I have, as meager as it might be, has come from Him and entrusted to me for stewardship while walking this earth. That includes stewardship of our brotherhood, and the Bond which brings us together.
Happy Thanksgiving, my brothers.
December 8th, 2007 at 10:49 am
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! ! !