Thanksgiving is "Thanks-living"

I know this sounds like the name of a Thanksgiving sermon (which I am sure that have preached at some point and time in my illustrious ministry career!). I always do a lot of reflecting this time of the year. We just celebrated Thanksgiving at our house. We continue to carry on a strong family tradition that goes back for generations.
When I was growing up I can remember all of my aunts and uncles and cousins coming out to our farm for Thanksgiving day. My dad owned a couple of flat-bed wagons and would pull both of the them in the side yard for all the food that my mom would fix and my relatives would bring with them! We always nearly filled BOTH wagons with food and fixin's! Then after the feast, while the adults were visiting, all of us kids would find ways to run off all that food we ate! Good times.
Now we have grown children they have kids. It was such a joy to hear my grandkids offer the prayer for the Thanksgiving meal. And my wife and daughters and daughter-in-law fixed enough food to feed a small army! Then after the meal the guys enjoy a new Thanksgiving tradition-watching football while the women folk go shopping! Then, before everyone has to go home, we enjoy the leftovers for supper. But the most important thing is that the family is together. At the end of the day, I am in my reflecting mode thanking God for such a wonderfully close family.
We are not "rich" by the standards of the world. But we have what we need. We have been greatly blessed by God. We have a very nice house to live in (along with a very nice mortgage!), my wife and I drive decent cars (not Lexus or Mercedes-a Ford and and a Kia!), we have ample food to eat, good jobs, good health, and good friends. But the greatest blessing of all is knowing God. I am eternally thankful that I was raised by Christian parents and that the Lord saved me when I was a teenager. And now that I'm getting older I find myself thanking God for even the smallest things. I find that I am a lot happier when I am thankful.
Do I have stress and problems in my life? Sure. But like the Apostle Paul I'm learning to cope with problems and to be content with what I have. I love the words to this Russell Frager song that our Praise team sings "I've found the power to be free, it's in the way You look at me, I call Your name and then, stand in your Grace again and I will always have a grateful, faithful heart."
I pray that the Lord will continue to make my life an expression of thanks for all that God has done for me.
thankfully
The Methmusician

Seeing God

So I'm sitting in McDonald's this morning having one of those nutritious quick breakfast meals when a song playing on the intercom caught my attention. I'm not sure exactly who was singing it (I think it might be George Straight) but the song talks about seeing God in everyday simple things.
It got me to thinking (you know that happens to me several times each month!). In the song I heard the singer talks about watching his baby being born. My wife and I had five children and I watched that fifth child being born and I can tell you it really is a miraculous thing! I wish I would have had the nerve to watch the first four kids come into this world. And yes, I did see God in that birth! When I hear birds singing in mid-November I see God. When I enjoy time with my wife or my grandkids I see God. When I kneel at the communion rail to receive or to serve Communion I see God. When I hear a song that touches me deeply and stirs my heart, I see god. There are truly all kinds of ways that we can experience the presence of God every single day.
Frankly, I feel sorry for people who choose NOT to seek God or to see God working in their lives. There is lot of crazy stuff going on in the world today and we need something that is constant, true and real. I have found that my relationship with God in Christ IS that one thing that is unchanging and worthwhile. But I also am eternally grateful for the people that God has put in my life who share the same convictions and love. Life is too short to not see God! Wouldn't you agree?
Later
The Methmusician

The Bad Samaritan

I attended a college football game with a couple of my sons the other day. The stadium was packed and there was much excitement. This was a home game for our team and the opposing team and their fans had driven across several states just to get here. And it is was really HOT for a September day! So along about the second quarter I decided i need a $3.50 bottled water to cool off.

The line to the concessions was long so there i was...waiting. Then I noticed two police officers approaching at the request of a stadium employee. He was pointing to a young fella dressed in the colors of "that other team." Now I didn't really mean to eaves drop but I did and as best as i can tell this young man had requested a cup of ice from the concession stand to give to someone in his party who was obviously having a hard time with the terrible heat that day. And apparently the concession stand policy is that they don't give out cups of ice. So the young fella offered to pay the $3.50 drink charge and got nowhere with that. He was pleading his case to these two police officers who were obviously NOT going to go against "policy." I could not help but feel sorry for this kid. And at one point I almost walked over there myself to say "for crying out loud give the kid a cup of ice! It's not that big of a deal is it?" I wondered if the concession people and these police officers would have shown any mercy to that person needing the ice should they had stroke from the heat.

Well I got through that long line..finally.. and got my bottled water and that young man was still pleading when I walked away. I could not help but think to myself "here is a perfect example of how legalistic we have become in this world when the policy is more important than people. In the New Testament Jesus tells a story about a man who was robbed and beaten and left along the roadside for dead. Three persons walked by, two of them part of the religious "establishment" and one a Samaritan. And as you know the Samaritan (who was the least likely person to help) was the hero of that story. What has happened to that GOOD SAMARITAN? Has he now turned into the bad Samaritan? When I thought about this incident I asked the Lord to please, please let me show compassion on that person who stands in need of even the simplest thing like a drink of water or a cup of ice! And please God, NEVER EVER let me sacrifice people for policy. Oh yeah, and could you help OUR TEAM win next time?

That's all for now!

The Methmusician

Justice Issues

Well I am really disappointed! I was certain that Michael Jackson was as guilty as sin of child molestation and then he turns around gets an aquital! Is there no justice in the world? Then I read in the paper recently where a jury convicted Ray Killen of manslaughter from a crime he apparently committed some 41 years ago. Either there is no justice or the wheels of justice turn slower and slower!
Now, I am not a fan at all of Michael Jackson. I quit listening to his music some time ago. And I am certainly not a proponent of the KKK and I'm quite sure that Ray Killen is getting what has been a long-time-coming to him! (Although, it seems a bit futile to convice an 80 year old-I mean he's most likely not long for this world as it is, don't you think?). But I don't want to think about justice in classical terms of "getting what you deserve." I would much rather think about justice in more theological terms. I think we need to consider justice in the context of the absolute righteousness of God. Yes, I mean the God of the Israelites who sometimes sanctioned war and death in His Law. Remember Him? He's the same God that we Christian profess to follow and serve today.
True justice is served up when we take the crap in our lives that keeps us from being God-like and let God bury it, as Audio Adrenaline says "on the ocean floor." When we allow our heavenly father to strip us of the filthy rags we call our own "righteousness" and replace it with the unmerited Grace of Jesus' love and life, then WE become "JUSTIFIED." This is God's style of Justice!
But be careful! Don't confuse God's JUSTICE for God's JUDGEMENT! Make no mistake about it, every single last one of us (including Michael Jackson, Ray Killen, you and me!) will be JUDGED by God in the end. And I for one am grateful that God's judgement is always sure and right and fair. I'm also convinced that the faith I have in God in God's son, Jesus Christ will be sufficient grounds for God to forgive me and let me live with my Creator forever. Look, if you don't have this assurance or if you just don't know what the heck I'm talking about, let me encourage you to try to find out about it. It won't make you perfect, but you will enjoy being forgiven! til next time...
methmusician

How I Hate Christmas

Well, ok, I don't really hate Christmas...I hate the commercialization of it! Now I know that the Christian tradition of celebrating Christmas actually grew out of pagan sacramental practices. But I also know and am convinced that the nature of God is to take stuff that's bad and make it good. So why not take pagan practices centered around the winter solitice and have a church holiday?
But I think our culture goes too far when it comes to Christmas consumerism. I remember going into a local department store in late August and seeing all the Christmas wrapping paper and ornaments out! Christmas is obviously big business in retail. And I like buying and giving (and receiving) presents as much as the next guy. But when the true meaning of the season, (i.e. the advent of God into the world in Christ) is so smothered by buying, selling and greed, then I think we've gone a little too far.
Even in church we are sometimes hardpressed to really fully appreciate the epiphany because we are so dog-gone BUSY! I hope that you will join me in a simple prayer that we will stop and think about the real reason we celebrate this Holy holiday. Let us not forget that Christ came for every person to have an opportunity to experience reall life in God through Him. JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON. Let's make our hearts a modern day Bethlehem where Christ can be born over and over again!
Have a Great Christmas!
methmusician

PS I hate shopping, too.