Psalm 9:1 "I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell all of your wondrous deeds."
Each year, I visit family for Thanksgiving. We enjoy the enormous meal of turkey, stuffing (my mom makes the best), mashed potatoes, yams, and vegetables (OK I don't eat the veggies). This is then topped off by dessert, usually pumpkin pie. We then proceed to go into turkey comas while watching the many football games that are playing on TV. I am fairly certain that scenario plays out in many households across America. Some of you may have decided to start your Christmas shopping early or camp out for stores that open at midnight. Thanksgiving has become kind of a rest-stop between Halloween and Christmas.
Some of you may be reflective on all you have been thankful in the past year. We do have a lot to be thankful for. We are blessed by a God who provides in ways we don't expect and many times in ways we don't deserve. We serve an extravagant God. Sometimes, we forget all the good things we have experienced. I am pretty good at being forgetful, preferring to move on to the next issue at hand rather than reflect a little and give thanks. I find when I am thankful, it helps me to have hope for the future. I am reminded of all the blessings God has provided as well as prayers answered. If God answered in the past, why should I doubt my prayers will be heard in the future? Also, I have noticed that people who are really thankful cant help but tell you about it. What a good testimony!! When you receive good service or help from others aren't you thankful? Don't you then recommend or tell others about this? How much more should we be doing that when we are blessed by God.
One of my recommendations would be to keep a prayer journal. I used to, and should get back in the habit. It allows you to remember where you have been and what has been answered. This helps as a reminder for us and leads us to be a more thankful people.
What am I thankful for this year?
How God has answered and protected me
My wife, Susan
Friends and Family
My job (even when it drives me crazy)
Living in the United States (even with some of its problems)
Visiting Washington DC
Dependable Transportation (don't take it for granted)
My family and I being relatively healthy
Teaching preschoolers at church
The Vineyard Church in Parma Hts.
Cavaliers winning the Championship
I know I am forgetting a lot (especially a lot of smaller things). I am sure I will remember a few later.
Writing in a journal and blogging does make me reflective and thankful for everything I have and provides hope for the coming year.
And now a very special Thanksgiving episode of Scrambled Eggs & Corn Flakes:
Cue Flashback music:
It was 1990, a very heady time to live in. It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I was a junior at Ohio State. I was involved in my Intervarsity Christian Fellowship home group at University Village. We decided it would be a good idea to have a Thanksgiving meal together. Since I hosted it, I decided I would handle the turkey.
(Before I go on, I should warn you that the following story I heard became part of a future sermon. Also, my wife knew of me long before we actually met because of this incident. But, I digress...)
So that morning, I pulled the turkey out to thaw. After a couple hours I put the turkey in the oven. A few hours after that, I had noticed that the turkey wasn't really cooking all that well. I called one of my friends to come down and help me out with the situation. After much consulting, we were completely clueless how to proceed.
I decided then to call a cooking expert, my mother. She asked several questions including if we took the bag out from the inside of the turkey. I calmly told her the truth "Yes, mom of course I did. I go to college - do you think I am dumb?" Then, I placed my hand on the speaker and yelled to my friend to get the turkey out of the oven. I was unaware that there might be surprises inside the turkey.
I thanked my mom for the advice, hung up the phone, and went into panic mode.
We were unsuccessful in prying open the turkey to get to the insides. Apparently, a couple hours is not enough time to thaw out a turkey (Did I mention I'm college educated, Top 5 in my high school class, and a CPA?)
Now, we were in a bind. What's a Thanksgiving meal without a turkey? I came up with a perfect solution to our problem. OK, the perfect solution would have been to flee the country and cancel the meal. Instead, I ran down to the local Kroger's and bought five plus pounds of sliced turkey from the deli section. Problem solved. From what I recall, we did have a wonderful meal and sliced turkey works with gravy. It also became fodder for jokes the remainder of the school year.
I was thankful that I did not burn the apartment down or for giving salmonella to my friends. The big lesson we learned that Chris should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever cook a turkey again. (Did I mention never ever ever again??) And this is a vow I have kept going for 23 years. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!!!
Each year, I visit family for Thanksgiving. We enjoy the enormous meal of turkey, stuffing (my mom makes the best), mashed potatoes, yams, and vegetables (OK I don't eat the veggies). This is then topped off by dessert, usually pumpkin pie. We then proceed to go into turkey comas while watching the many football games that are playing on TV. I am fairly certain that scenario plays out in many households across America. Some of you may have decided to start your Christmas shopping early or camp out for stores that open at midnight. Thanksgiving has become kind of a rest-stop between Halloween and Christmas.
Some of you may be reflective on all you have been thankful in the past year. We do have a lot to be thankful for. We are blessed by a God who provides in ways we don't expect and many times in ways we don't deserve. We serve an extravagant God. Sometimes, we forget all the good things we have experienced. I am pretty good at being forgetful, preferring to move on to the next issue at hand rather than reflect a little and give thanks. I find when I am thankful, it helps me to have hope for the future. I am reminded of all the blessings God has provided as well as prayers answered. If God answered in the past, why should I doubt my prayers will be heard in the future? Also, I have noticed that people who are really thankful cant help but tell you about it. What a good testimony!! When you receive good service or help from others aren't you thankful? Don't you then recommend or tell others about this? How much more should we be doing that when we are blessed by God.
One of my recommendations would be to keep a prayer journal. I used to, and should get back in the habit. It allows you to remember where you have been and what has been answered. This helps as a reminder for us and leads us to be a more thankful people.
What am I thankful for this year?
How God has answered and protected me
My wife, Susan
Friends and Family
My job (even when it drives me crazy)
Living in the United States (even with some of its problems)
Visiting Washington DC
Dependable Transportation (don't take it for granted)
My family and I being relatively healthy
Teaching preschoolers at church
The Vineyard Church in Parma Hts.
Cavaliers winning the Championship
I know I am forgetting a lot (especially a lot of smaller things). I am sure I will remember a few later.
Writing in a journal and blogging does make me reflective and thankful for everything I have and provides hope for the coming year.
And now a very special Thanksgiving episode of Scrambled Eggs & Corn Flakes:
Cue Flashback music:
It was 1990, a very heady time to live in. It was the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I was a junior at Ohio State. I was involved in my Intervarsity Christian Fellowship home group at University Village. We decided it would be a good idea to have a Thanksgiving meal together. Since I hosted it, I decided I would handle the turkey.
(Before I go on, I should warn you that the following story I heard became part of a future sermon. Also, my wife knew of me long before we actually met because of this incident. But, I digress...)
So that morning, I pulled the turkey out to thaw. After a couple hours I put the turkey in the oven. A few hours after that, I had noticed that the turkey wasn't really cooking all that well. I called one of my friends to come down and help me out with the situation. After much consulting, we were completely clueless how to proceed.
I decided then to call a cooking expert, my mother. She asked several questions including if we took the bag out from the inside of the turkey. I calmly told her the truth "Yes, mom of course I did. I go to college - do you think I am dumb?" Then, I placed my hand on the speaker and yelled to my friend to get the turkey out of the oven. I was unaware that there might be surprises inside the turkey.
I thanked my mom for the advice, hung up the phone, and went into panic mode.
We were unsuccessful in prying open the turkey to get to the insides. Apparently, a couple hours is not enough time to thaw out a turkey (Did I mention I'm college educated, Top 5 in my high school class, and a CPA?)
Now, we were in a bind. What's a Thanksgiving meal without a turkey? I came up with a perfect solution to our problem. OK, the perfect solution would have been to flee the country and cancel the meal. Instead, I ran down to the local Kroger's and bought five plus pounds of sliced turkey from the deli section. Problem solved. From what I recall, we did have a wonderful meal and sliced turkey works with gravy. It also became fodder for jokes the remainder of the school year.
I was thankful that I did not burn the apartment down or for giving salmonella to my friends. The big lesson we learned that Chris should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever cook a turkey again. (Did I mention never ever ever again??) And this is a vow I have kept going for 23 years. Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!!!
Comments
Post a Comment