Some Personal Thanksgiving Thoughts

My first reaction to Thanksgiving, of course, is what should be every Christian’s - namely to be grateful foremost for my salvation in Christ and the peace and security that brings. If we have nothing in this world other than that, we are infinitely, and eternally, blessed. And of course, for me, there are the added gifts of a godly wife, wonderful family, and being in full-time ministry here and elsewhere.

But my second thought is about something the Lord led me to do this past Friday night while giving a short devotional at church to the youth group. We had just served them a Thanksgiving turkey dinner and then I gathered them together just before the dessert. I picked a great kid whose name was Jordan. He’s twelve. And I asked him to detail everything he had done since the moment he opened his eyes that morning. I would let him proceed with a few things and then interrupt by saying something like this: “So you first awakened and got up from a warm comfortable bed, in a beautiful safe home with loving parents down the hall?” Of course he said Yes. I then said, “You know that even opening your eyes is a gift because we have two people in our church who are blind and others in such great pain that they can barely walk”.

Then I asked him for his next moves, which included getting dressed, eating breakfast and heading out to school, etc. So again, I asked, “How many sets of clothes and shoes did you have to pick from? “ His answer, after laughing, was, “You don’t even want to know”. I followed again saying, “And while you then tried to decide what to eat, for the first of your 3+ meals that day, there are millions of kids who will never learn to read or write, and who wake up every single day cold, hungry, and scared - some starving to death as we speak.” Next I asked him, “Did you then jump into a nice new warm car, get driven to the front door of a nice safe school, where you have friends and get a quality education?” ‘’That’s right,’ he said - although I’m not sure how much he was thankful for being sent to school?

But to make a long story short, we eventually got into Jordan’s evening hours where he described his typical life, including sports, friends, computer games, cell phones, and all of the things that characterize most of America’s youth culture today – not to mention us all sitting there in a beautiful church, with Christian friends, and programs designed for their fun and spiritual edification. I think the kids finally began to get where I was headed.

We eventiually ended up with him going back to sleep and getting ready to do it all over again. But all of that to say that, as I spoke about spiritual things to others, I typically turned back the applicatiob on myself. I again realized that all the daily so-called ‘little things’, we never much think about are all great blessings from God’s hand. They are not just our ‘birth rights’ as Americans, as we often treat them.

To wrap up, I asked the kids to compare their lives to those we were exposed to in our missions conference a few weeks earlier – children who have been kiddnapped as child soldiers in Uganda. Or 9-10-year old girls sold into slavery and prostition by their own familes in Cambodia. And there were the street boys of Lima, Peru, who live on drugs in scavenging through dumps, and just trying to squeak out another painful day of survival.

I don’t know what impact I had on the kids that night. Hopefully some. But I know what it did for me as I reconsidered my many blessings – even apart from having the priceless possesion of forgiveness of my sin, along with a personal reationship with the Creator God who granted it!

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess 5:17-18)

Bill Breckenridge

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Thanks to God!

Thanksgiving is the season for sumptuous meals, travel to family reunions, days off of school, a starting line in our sprint toward Christmas and a reason for a word from the White House.

In his annual Thanksgiving Proclamation, President Bush reviewed the Pilgrim settlers’ piety and recalled that Washington and Lincoln had issued sober proclamations in difficult times. In his 2008 call to thanks, one of approximately 100 presidential proclamations issued each year, Bush ended it as he always does saying he acted according to the Constitution and the laws of the land "in the year of our Lord, two thousand and eight." That phrase "in the year of our Lord" clearly indicates that all time is anchored to the coming of Christ, who is the Lord of each year and as divine benefactor is to be the central focus of all our thanks.

After outlining the death of Christ, Hebrews 13:15 says, "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name."

According to Romans 1:21, the spiritually darkened pagan world slipped into its tragic mental and moral morass through lack of gratitude to God. "Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Ingratitude is not merely a tragic oversight. It can bring certain disaster. Consider Deuteronomy 8:11-18. "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God…lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’ And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish."

An excellent musical focus that embodies extensive gratitude is the old Swedish hymn "Thanks To God!".

Thanks to God for my Redeemer, Thanks for all Thou dost provide!
Thanks for times now but a mem’ry, Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime, Thanks for dark and dreary fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten, Thanks for peace within my soul!

Thanks to God that Thou hast answered, Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered, Thanks for all Thou dost supply!
Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure, Thanks for comfort in despair!
Thanks for grace that none can measure, Thanks for love beyond compare!

Thanks for roses by the wayside, Thanks for thorns their stems contain!
Thanks for home and thanks for fireside, Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!
Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow, Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow, Thanks thro’ all eternity!

Dave Virkler

Reconsidering The Retirement Dream

Just when you thought it was safe to go into retirement – the bottom fails out. That is the tragic reality for many Americans who are retired or hoped to be before long. The economic crisis has wreaked havoc with individual portfolios, the value of 401k’s, stocks, and just about everything in between.

According to AARP, even before the current crisis, some one in five people had put off retirement and six in ten workers 45 and older said they were delaying retirement and expected to work longer. About one in four said they’re working longer hours at work to try to make ends meet. For many, economic stress has meant that their standard of living has been lowered, resulting in cutting back on vacations, travel and other forms of entertainment.

Few would not acknowledge frustration and pain of working toward a material goal for an entire lifetime, only to see it quickly slip into oblivion. But there are far worse things in life. There is the failure to adequately prepare spiritually for the future beyond this life.

In addition to what should be common sense, the Bible also warns about counting too heavily on material things that are unstable at best. The Old Testament book of Proverbs repeatedly speaks to the unwise reliance on wealth and other material assets. And it comes from a man who was rich beyond words. ”He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like foliage." (Proverbs 11:28) “Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease! Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings: they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.” (Proverbs 23:4-5)

This author’s wise and compelling words, and others like them, are best understood when viewed in light of One who is the very sum of all wisdom and truth. In Matthew’s account, Jesus spoke to the issue of anxiety over worldly cares and fragile possessions. In Matthew 6:31-34 we read, "Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”

As the economic fear continues its growing grip on the nation, not even the most gifted of leaders can instantly fix the fiasco or predict the the future. It is beyond them now and always will be. But those who seek God's solutions to life’s problems, whether simple or complex, will find infinite assets and irrevocable promises. (Hebrews13:5) And while millions scheme and plot what is their next econonic move, hopefully wise Christians will take one other piece of sound advice – this time from the New Testament wisdom book for daily practical living.

"Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15)

Bill Breckenridge

Christmas Fireworks

Fireworks were missing from the annual Patchogue, New York boat parade on November 23 because it excluded the name "Christmas." In previous years, it was called the Patchogue Christmas Boat Parade. This year, it was merely the Patchogue Boat Parade. The Patchogue town fathers decided that the word "Christmas" was an offense to a tiny minority, so they removed it to soothe the offended. It is likely the first salvo in the annual Christmas wars.

Although usually associated with Fourth of July celebrations, a $5,000 fireworks display by the internationally famous Fireworks by Grucci of Brookhaven was part of the Christmas Boat Parade last year. But Grucci declined to do so this year because they felt the change in the name nominally demoted the celebration into a secular observance and not a true Christmas event. A compromise effort to have fireworks for a minor light festival as part of the event fell through. The company felt the fireworks display would not honor the original purpose of the parade, which was to observe Christmas.

So, no fireworks in Patchogue this year. Parade attendance fell by one third.

When replacing "Christmas" with what is perceived as the more neutral "holiday," detractors are likely unaware that the origin of the word is "Holy Day." Sometimes secular objectors merely fool themselves running in absurd circles.

The very name Christmas, with it focus on Christ and His virgin-birth appearance in a humble Judean cow stall over two thousand years ago, has been a growing offense in recent years. As secular pluralism has become the tacit unspoken law of the land, the historic facts that gave us the holiday have been morphed into generic Winter Holidays or some vague "points of light" observance. The Patchogue flap is the first volley of multiple shots at Christmas itself. The birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was the greatest event since Creation, promised in Genesis 2:15 leading all the way through Micah 5:2 and fulfilled in tax-payer clogged Bethlehem in the days of Roman Caesar Augustus and his lackey King Herod.

Even then, Christmas was a problem for politically-focused rulers and largely ignored by religious leaders. When Herod quizzed the wise men so he could beat a murderous path to Jesus’ residence, the Jewish scholars had to search their Bibles to specify the place. Herod wanted fireworks but the wrong kind. He ravaged the populace of young children to eradicate any competitor to his throne.

Ironically, from Bethlehem, one can see the cone-shaped hill known as the Herodium, where the wretched killer is buried, just a couple of miles from the town. Archaeologists have discovered his tomb inside this former opulent palace that became his burial vault. Herod’s coffin has been pulverized, likely by vengeance-seeking Jews, yet grateful Christian pilgrims daily stream through the birth-cave of Christ.

While secularists rewrite history and refuse to kneel at the manger, they increase their future pain of one day being forced to bow before the risen Christ. Philippians 2:7-11 merges His first and second comings. "…[He] made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

We sing in the hymn, "Let every kindred, ev’ry tribe, On this terrestrial ball, To Him all majesty ascribe, And crown, Him, Lord of all."

Christ may not be deemed worthy of His name in Patchogue or in other U.S. cities this Christmas, but He will be exalted above every name in the eternity to come. Men bow now willingly in subjection, but then they will bow forcibly in judgment. Christmas always focuses the choice.

Dave Virkler

A Firewall

You may have missed it in all the focus on the financial crisis, election follow-up and presidential transition, but a Christian college campus in California is the victim of the Montecito Tea Fire, which to date has destroyed over 800 homes and forced the evacuation of over 26,000 endangered people.

Westmont College in Santa Barbara is celebrating the deliverance of all faculty, staff and student lives while enduring the pain that eight structures, including dormitories and several educational buildings, are gone, and 16 faculty homes are burned to ashes. Memories are all that’s left.

The wild fire, fanned by 60- to 70-mile an hour winds, swept down a slope with such velocity that 800 students had to literally drop whatever they were doing to seek immediate refuge in the concrete block gym as the fire raged by. Tornado-like tongues of flame sliced through the campus, quickly turning homes and campus buildings into infernos and then smoldering cinders. Precious keepsakes were left behind as 41 faculty members and their families fled their campus homes. Sixteen of them would find nothing left when returning later, and thirty-five students also lost their rooms and belongings.

In the gym, some cried, others prayed and sang, and a few called home on their cell phones. A gas line failed, cutting off power to the campus. The gymnasium refuge was difficult but safe as sweltering heat made students sweat, smoke seeped in and ash even fell through the vents. The fireproof concrete walls divided the flames and protected the students with an incombustible shield.

By daybreak, the temporary gym tenants emerged, like Noah after the flood, to view an entirely different campus world. No life was lost through the perilous night, in great part because routine fire drills had prepped the student body for such a time as that, and they obediently raced to their prescribed refuge.

The many spiritual lessons they have learned are now seared into their memories. First, flee at once when the warning is given. Had they tarried in disbelief or lingered to rescue favored keepsakes, there would be casualties to mourn. If rigorous drills had been lacking, funerals would be planned instead of only structural rebuilding.

The fiery incident is loaded with biblical illustrations. Lot was told to exit Sodom before the fire fell and escaped with his life and his daughters, losing his wife because she turned to fix her gaze on things under fiery judgement. In a contrasting physical sense, Noah and his family boarded the ark and floated in a wooden chest that kept the flood waters outside.

Isaiah 43:2 promised God’s pilgrims, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."

The chorus of the old hymn "God Leads His Dear Children Along" picks up that theme. "Some through the waters, Some through the flood, Some through the fire, but all through the blood; Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song; In the night season and all the day long."

The indifferent wealthy man in Luke’s gospel found himself "tormented in this flame" (Luke 16:24), a fate that was totally avoidable had he heeded Moses and the prophets who pointed to Christ as God’s eternal fire escape. Romans 8:1 promises, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."

Westmont students will never forget the deflecting concrete walls that stood between them and fiery death. Christ, our great deliverer, is a sturdy firewall between believers and the judgment we deserve in our sinful selves. "He tasted death for every man," as Hebrews 2:9 says. A children’s Sunday School song says it all. "God’s judgment cannot fall on me, I’m covered by the blood you see. Jesus died on the tree, and His blood covers me. God’s judgment cannot fall on me."

Dave Virkler

You can find more information on the fire and recovery at Westmont’s website: www.westmont.edu.