ACTS Thanksgiving; Know your ABC's?

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." ~Philippians 4:4-8

Summer is known for family road trips. Hours in a hot car can be a challenge, one way families meet the challenge is by playing thinking games. Faced with a 2 hour drive to summer camp with our 9 year old yesterday, we played an oldy-but-a-goody. We took turns coming up with animals names that started with each letter of the alphabet- alligator, bear, cat, dog, elephant, etc. etc. 

Then we cranked it up a notch by challenging each other to name cities or states that began with the ABCs. Albuquerque, Barstow, Chicago, Denver, Evansville, Fargo... you get the idea. (Ute, Iowa and Quartzite, Arizona were a couple of tough ones, by the way).

If you're serious about thanking God for all He's done for you, maybe you should start playing games with Him. Try making a list of things you're thankful for that uses all 26 letters of the alphabet! You can do it on your own during your personal prayer and devotion time, or you can do it with your family on a road trip- you  can do it at a Youth Group or Prayer Group meeting, in a Sunday School or Vacation Bible School class- or hold on to it and remember to do it with your family next Thanksgiving.

To make it more of a challenge, you could play more than one round- one time giving thanks about things, another time about events or activities, and the best way  would be to give thanks for people you're grateful for having in your life.

Apple pie

Baseball

Communion

Doctor Whatshisname

Evergreen trees
Friendship
Garage sales
Hot chocolate
I think you get the idea- try coming up with your own!

ACTS, Thanksgiving: Christmas in July

This summer, we've been talking about an outline for prayer, ACTS; Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Sometimes after spending a lot of time in confession, one can start to feel a little unworthy of God's love. Sin makes you not just feel guilty, but insecure, inadequate, insignificant and inconsequential.

A great way to realize just how much God loves you is to remind yourself how much He's done for you and given you.

Ever feel anxious about finances? Feel under pressure from expectations? How about irritated or a little resentful of how others seem to succeed without scruples? Stressed-out or like you don't understand why you seem to be the only person who cares that things get done? Ever get discouraged about all the things you don't have? Feel like you're always trying to play the rules, yet you never seem to get anywhere?

Maybe you don't really need an antidepressant. Maybe you've been looking down too long and you just need to spend some time looking up for a while. Oh, I know that sounds corny or Pollyanna. But it's not as easy, or as pointless as it sounds.

I can be preoccupied about how my vehicle is rusty and doesn't have air conditioning or how much gas costs and wish I had something newer or prettier. Or I can appreciate that I have a a ride to work. I can complain about my mortgage payment and how much utilities and home repairs and maintenance cost or I can appreciate the fact that I have a safe, comfortable home where I can go to get out of the sun or the wind or rain, when so many are being foreclosed on, paying rent, or without any home at all.

John Thomas is an evangelist in the towns outside of Calcutta India. He prayed for a year for a Jeep to travel in from town to town to share the Good News about Jesus. He helps run a Christian school in his neighborhood that provides a rare opportunity for education to desperately impoverished children - not to mention much needed meals and stories of God's love to people who literally have never heard of Jesus. Their landlord has decided not to renew their lease, she'd rather make room for business tenants. John would like to raise $40K in the next year in order to buy or build their own facilities.

Thinking about John's ministry not only makes me grateful for what I have, it makes me feel guilty for complaining about not being more comfortable, secure, or affluent. It certainly motivates me to pray for John and his wife Cyndi and to try to influence my congregation to help support them. Frankly (and I know this will make Ayn Rand admirers cringe), it makes me feel pretty guilty about being an American, born into such a decadent, materialistic society where so many of us feel entitled to our blessings, instead of humbly appreciative.

So take some time in prayer to catalog your inventory of people, things, and ways in which God has blessed you. Thank Him for where He's brought you, what He's done for you, and especially for the people He's placed in your life.

If you're up all night because your mind is racing, obsessing about all you have to get done or how you're going to pay your bills- try spending some time thinking about how much you do have and how much joy your loved ones bring you. Think about the good things that have happened and just how much you do have.

Christmas may be 6 months away, but this song from Bing Crosby's popular holiday movie is an excellent reminder that the best way to battle worry, fear and anger is with thanksgiving, appreciation and an attitude of gratitude.

When I'm worried and I can't sleepI count my blessings instead of sheepAnd I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting smallI think of when I had none at allAnd I fall asleep counting my blessings 

I think about a nursery and I picture curly headsAnd one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds

If you're worried and you can't sleepJust count your blessings instead of sheepAnd you'll fall asleep counting your blessings

THANKS | 27- Time Off

Well, back to school on Monday. I didn't get the lights on the house and we didn't bring the tree up from the basement yet, we sure don't have our Christmas cards all made out yet. But, we got to sleep in for a few days. I got to spend some time with my girls and my wife and I even managed to squeeze a date night in.

So I not only want to thank God for amazing daughters and an insanely wonderful wife, but I really want to thank the Lord for the last few days off of work to spend with them.

Thanks | 26- Yum

Thank God for leftovers.
You can have revenge, I think that turkey and stuffing is a dish best served cold.

THANKS | 25- An American Communion

One of the wonders of the American Thanksgiving Holiday, is that it's sort of a last bastion of cultural commonality, of what Confucius called "deliberate tradition."

Think about it, of the some 300 million people in the United States, I would venture that MOST of us are doing, seeing, eating, and perhaps even thinking the same things for this one day every year.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was broadcast on all 3 major broadcast TV networks.

How many people DON'T have at least turkey? Stuffing? Green been casserole? Pumpkin pie? That cranberry goop that goes "shloop" when you slide it out of the can?

Families play games, share memories. People think about pilgrims and Indians. Kids make paper turkeys in school. Perhaps a few people even about Lincoln's Thanksgiving proclamation.

Aside from the Super Bowl and the Rose Bowl, the Detroit and Dallas Thanksgiving "Classics" have to be the most viewed football games all year.

So I thank God that this one day, most of us are sharing something in common. And I thank Him that this is a day when most of us take a break from being greedy, selfish, impatient and unsatisfied and instead take on an attitude of gratitude.

But just imagine, if like Lincoln encouraged us, this was the one day when we all prayed and weren't just grateful or thankful, but were grateful and thankful TO somebody, to God? Someday we will, but until then, I'll be grateful for what we've got.

THANKS | 20- The Underdogs

Thank God for the underdogs, for the guys who didn't win, who believed that their Quixotic mission to effect reform, progress, and change was worth the risks, even in the face of derision, and enormous pressures, and persecution.

A lot of people might disagree with me on this, but I thank God for the likes of William Jennings Bryan, Eugene Debs, Henry A. Wallace, Adlai Stevensen, Jim Garrison, Ralph Nader, and Howard Dean.

THANKS 19 | TGIF

Yeah, this may sound pretty selfish, worldly, or even glib- but some weeks one of the greatest things you're thankful for is Friday. So as a matter of fact, today, I for one say, Thank God it's Friday!

It's not the least bit sacrilegious if you mean it, and this week I really mean it!

In the spirit of this blog, I could probably go off on how if you appreciate having a 40 hour or 5 day work week you should thank a Liberal/Union/Progressive/Etc. But I'm tired and want to head home. Bottom line is, I could spread this out and talk about how grateful we should be to live in such a modern country with such a high standard of living, yadda yadda yadda, there's not weekends of in Somalia or Haiti or the Solomon Islands, etc. etc.

But the fact is I am blessed enough to live here and have a decent job and when I've had a hard week, I'm very blessed to have a couple of days of rest, recreation, relief, and recovery. This is a huge blessing and a lavish luxury that, goes without saying, most of us take for granted.

So it is entirely fitting and appropriate that we should thank God for it.

Thank God, it's Friday!

THANKS | 18- Concordia Founder's Day

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." 

~Henry Brooks Adams

"The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives."

~Robert Maynard Hutchins

"Education is not filling a pail but the lighting of a fire."

~William Butler Yeats

On this day in 1894 Concordia University, Seward Nebraska was founded. It was about this time in 1989 that I knew I had fallen in love with my wife there. It was about this time in 1990 when we got engaged. If Seward was just the place where I found the love of my life that would certainly be enough reason to give thanks for it. But an Alma Mater is a "nursing mother," the community or institution which takes you from your parents' arms and sets you on your course in life.

I have cohorts who have plenty of reason not to love our college and I understand and respect that. Like our own parents, colleges aren't perfect. They  make mistakes, you won't always agree with them, they may even hurt you. I have a friend who feels that Concordia provided an inadequate education, others who were wounded by administrative politics. But while I recognize that it is not perfect and is made up of a variety of people who are imperfect- my experience was generally positive.

I believe it is the people God placed there while I was there who He used to teach and guide me. So I would like to take today to thank God for those people who were at "Concordia Teacher's College" while I was.

Albert Einstein once said that "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything one learned in school."

Here is just SOME of what has remained with me:

• Prof. Moulds- Don't take my word for it, look it up (especially in the Bible)
• Prof. Schmidt- True leadership is SERVANT leadership
• Doc Meyer- It's all about sifting through the BS to find the nuggets of truth
• Doctor Glaess- Life is all about choices, take responsibility for yours
• Doctor Vasco- If you're going to err, err on the side of grace
• Prof. Wolfram- God provides the wind, but we have to set sail and man the rudder
• Prof. Marxhausen- Always take a Sabbath and never take the same route home twice
• Prof. Dennison- Life (and democracy) is all about dynamic tension working to create balance
• Chaplin Mech- The Bible is full of imperfect people relating to God and beautiful poetry
• Doctor Krutz- Taught me to love writing
• Prof. Grothaus- One finds time to read
• Prof. Pfabe- God loves the poor and wants us to seek justice

And much, much more, from many more professors, support staff, classmates, and a variety of interlopers.

THANKS 17 | Legal mood altering drugs

While the official family feast is still about 2 weeks away, I think it is very important to thank God for tryptophan. That's that wonderful enzyme found in turkey that makes you want to take a nap.

This might seem sarcastic or silly or glib, but I mean come on, if any middle class, middle aged, middle-of-the-road American male were honest with themselves, they'd say that one of the best parts of Thanksgiving is falling asleep during the Lions' game after that wonderful turkey dinner.

This sentiment may be self indulgent and uncharacteristically shallow and un-liberal and un-profoundly idealistic for this blog, but let's face it, isn't this the very embodiment of blessings and contentment? So let's thank God for affording us the ability to indulge in it...

Come to think of it, thank God for the hippuric acid that give cranberries so much zing, not to mention the protein, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, polyunsaturated fat and beta-carotene that make pumpkin pie so unique and unlike any other lame cobbler cake, pudding or bars.

Mmmmm. I can hardly weight- uh, I mean wait.

THANKS 16 | Great Artists

I would like to thank God personally for the collective works of cartoonist Charles M. Schultz, animators and producers Lee Mendelson and Jose Cuautemoc "Bill" Melendez and Jazz virtuoso Vince Giralldi and his Trio.

Any encounter I have had with any of their work, but especially with their various collaborations leaves me with a smile and a sense of peace and security like... well, like a security blanket, or maybe like a warm puppy.

THANKS | 15- for lazy weekends

I actually wrote this yesterday (I'm trying to get a day or two ahead since you never know when you'll have time to write). Last night (Friday) was the first real snow storm of the year. We had a good 3 inches at least. It may have been as much as 6 but it was damp and heavy and the ground is still warm, so much of it probably melted.

It left our town looking bright and clean and quiet. For once we didn't have any obligations or anywhere to go or to be, so we actually enjoyed being home. Sure, the kids were up at the crack of dawn, but they wanted to play outside- which left my love an me to sit and read and occasionally snooze. There was toast and coffee in the morning and warmed up home made potato soup from the night before for lunch. The power went in and out a few times because of heavy snow on the lines but, thankfully, it came back on and the heater kept our hundred year old prairie salt-box house on Fourth street cozy and safe.

There's something about morning light, diffused and reflected by new fallen snow, filtered through white cotton curtains that is about as beautiful as anything can be.

I read one of my favorite authors and now I'm enjoying one of my favorite things, writing- all the time in the company of my favorite person, my wife.

The girls have come in to warm up and have quieted down. They've found a Harry Potter movie on TV and are chatting about snow and sledding and snowmen and the upcoming holidays and what Santa may bring. After a while I'll  pick up in the kitchen and start something for supper, but what a blessing to have a day where we've been able to take everything at our own pace. No deadlines, no work. Pax Familia.

It may be rare and when the weekend ends (today, Monday, Nov. 15) will have us back at the grind stone with pressures and schedules and students with demands and administrators with assignments, but for now (two days ago) I want to thank God for this sweet, dreamy Saturday.

THANKS | 14- Thank God for the Blues

This may be a simple, not so profound one- and certainly one that is a matter of personal taste, but here goes-

Thank God for the Blues. Without the Blues we wouldn't have Jazz or Soul or R&B. But we also wouldn't have Rock or Pop or Hip-Hop, and in fact it is very unlikely that we would have Country (it would either be more like Bluegrass than it already is or maybe even Celtic).

I certainly don't thank God for the conditions that precipitated the development of Blues, slavery, racism, segregation etc. But legend has it that there were studies of slaves and slave owners in the 19th century and supposedly the suicide rates of slave owners were much higher than that of slaves. Go figure. I credit the Blues.

Much of the book of Psalms could be turned into Blues songs. If you can vent your anguish, whether in song or poem or painting, then it has less power over you.

But mostly I just like the Blues. Robert Johnson, Big Joe Turner, Rev. Gary Davis, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker, BB King, Stevie Ray Vaughn, and of course ZZ Top and the Blues Brothers.

Thank you Lord, for the Blues.

THANKS | 16- for the rookies... and vets too

For those of you who don't know it about me, I coach junior high and high school cheerleading at a small public school in Iowa. Over the years plenty of people have told me that I'm either some kind of saint, or certifiably crazy. There is certainly no shortage of egos, drama, tension, silliness, and annoyances. But most of the time it can be very rewarding. I believe God has taught me a lot through it (certainly patience) and I hope and sometimes think that He has used me to help teach and mentor the girls on my squads.

It can be stressful and I have a handful of friends, colleagues and former cheerleaders (including my wife) whom I can vent to when it gets hard- but I usually feel guilty about it because I'm constantly trying to impress on my cheerleaders the importance of being positive and because I don't want the people I'm venting to to conclude that it's a terrible hardship or that I dislike it and would rather get out of it.

So I would be remiss if I didn't take the time to thank God for the kids I have on this year's basketball cheer squads. Three of the four junior high girls are new as are three of the seven high school girls. A lot of coaches of ANY sport might tell you that it's hard to lose a lot of veterans because you have to go back and reteach the fundamentals. They'll often call it a rebuilding year or a growing year.

The thing about rookie cheerleaders is that they tend to be more coachable, more open to teaching and instruction. Girls who have been cheer for a few years start to get fiercely independent. It's good to be able to trust them to know what they're doing, but they can be less open to correction and and more likely to challenge your coaching. Which is okay, that's natural and all part of the process. But it's nice to be doing more actual coaching, and not merely advising or being just a sponsor again. Sure, it can be more work, but that just means more direct and deliberate interaction with kids. This is when teaching happens and when the relationships are established which will offer opportunities for mentoring later on.

So, I want to thank God for Lexis, Jarlin, Cathrine, and Jamie on my MS Squad and for Brittney, Shannon, and Jasmine on my HS Squad.

Although, I still want to thank Him for those hard working veterans who know what they're doing too. I have no rhythm and can't remember most of our cheers. I'm not a dancer. I coach best when I'm coaching the fundamentals. Cheers and chants are passed down through oral tradition. This year, so far, I've been very blessed with girls that seem to work well together and get along- much less drama than some past years. So, I should also thank God for Renea and Tiffany, Brenda and Kayla- and for Cammey who comes inn to help me teach even though she's not cheering this season.

THANKS | 13- Thank you Lord, for librarians

I have shared here my appreciation for books/reading/and literacy. And I have been grateful here for teachers. But someone all of us really ought to thank God for are truly unsung heroes. People we often think of as quiet, meek, maybe eve superfluous. Some of whom we might judge as petty tyrants for shhushing us to be quiet or stereotype as unassuming spinsters. But these are people who are the bulwarks of democracy. No one has been too worried about the demise of their profession as we have for print newspapers- but between the advent of the digital age and the resurgence of the anti-intellectual, anti-government, rugged-individualism movement, their time is surely limited.

I am talking of course of librarians.

"I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their strength, their powerful political connections or great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than have to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries."

~Kurt Vonnegut

Thank you God for public libraries and for librarians, long may they shush us.

THANX | 12- Thank God for Ignaz

Ignaz Philipp Semmelweiss (1818 – 1865) was the Hungarian obstetrician who had the audacity to suggest that hospital personnel, in particular, surgeons, should wash their hands before treating new patients. Sure, we had thinkers and tinkers around like Louis Pasteur, but basically, before Ignaz- we were not much different in our thinking than 500+ years ago when people were afraid of swamp gas or assumed that either evil spirits or bad luck were responsible for all illness.

So this year when you cough or sneeze into your elbow to help stop the spread of flu or when you wash your hands before sitting down to your big turkey feast- thank God for Ignaz Semmelweiss (even if you can't pronounce his name right when you do it).

THANX | 11- Remember

Because things like unity, justice, domestic tranquility, our common defense, and our general welfare are so important to us. And because the blessings of liberty are so important to us; like freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the press, freedom to assemble and protest, freedom of association, privacy and trial by jury- and the freedom to vote. Because these things are all so precious- we should thank God for our veterans, especially those who gave their last full measure of devotion to our liberties.

Thank You, Lord for those who sacrificed for our freedom, and security.

Paul told us in Philippians 4:6b "...but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God." And so we praise Him for His ultimate sovereignty over the nations and thank Him for our veterans- but in the next breath, we bring our requests and petitions to Him.

Please pray for our enemies, just as President Lincoln called us to do, so that God's Spirit would work in their hearts to end hostility and even to become our friends.

Please pray for our current service men and women, that God would protect and defend them, and keep them safe and whole and bring them home soon.

Please pray for their families, to keep them well and whole and to provide for them, and to comfort them and ease their fears while their loved ones are overseas or in harm's way.

Please don't just thank God for our veterans, but pray for them and their families- that they may be provided for, that we would not forget them or take them for granted. Pray that they may be restored to families, communities, to society, to jobs, to healed if not whole body and especially to whole and sound minds and to grant them personal peace and rest from the trauma's they've been through.

And lest we forget that this "Veteran's Day" was first called "Armistice Day" by those veterans themselves- Please pray for peace.

THANX 10 | The basics

“Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” ~Matthew 8:20

You can call this "Liberal Guilt" if you want to, but the last few days when I've listened to the news on the radio and there have been stories about Haiti still not recovered from January's devastating earth quake, now flooded after a hurricane (which thank God wasn't worse). Families living in refugee camps with no emergency shelters from the rain. Whole communities gathered under a sheet or a tarp. 

This has made me tremendously grateful for how fortunate I am to have a solid house, with a heater that works, and a soft, warm bed to crawl into at the end of the day (and some mornings wish I could stay in).

Yeah, as a matter of fact I do think that knowing how desperate the needs are of much of the world should give us pause. Hopefully it should affect us enough to want to do something about the inequity and injustice in the world, or to do with less, or to give if our time and treasure to charitable organizations. 

If nothing else, it should make us feel all the more grateful for even the smallest, most mundane blessings that we usually take for granted, or worse, selfishly feel entitled to.

Thank You, Lord, for a house to go home to, for food, clothing, and shelter, and a place to lay my head. Amen.

---

PS- Happy 527th Birthday, Martin Luther! Nov. 10, 1483. Thank You, God for Dr. Luther and his courage to take a stand for the truth of Your Grace! Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 1:17

THANX | 09- Go Juice

Thank you, Lord, for coffee

THANX | 08- Thanks God for words

Parent: "Eat your supper"
Child: "But I HATE this, it's so YUCKY!"
Parent: "Eat. There are children starving in Africa (India, China, name the country or continent)

That's an age-old scene, isn't it? But rather than use it to talk about hunger, poverty, or nutrition I want to use it as a metaphor for literacy.

At our school, we set aside 15-20 minutes a day to Drop Everything And Read (DEAR). What a LUXURY! What a treat! A gift! A joy. Read ANYTHING. Have a chunk of day where you don't have to work on homework or take notes or run laps- just read.

Yet every day kids moan and complain. Do we HAVE to? It's so BOOOOORING! I HATE to read.

Think about the rest of the world for a minute. How few kids have access to school, let alone books? How few people on this planet even know how to read? And then consider how many people on this globe aren't ALLOWED to read, or have what they are permitted to read severely limited?

During medieval times almost no one in Europe could read, monks who worked as scribes, a few super rich royals, some of the earliest bankers and lawyers. Even many priests and monks couldn't read. Books were either so valuable as material possessions or thought of as so dangerous for their potential to inspire people to think for themselves- they were literally locked up.

Martin Luther advocated universal public education because you have to be able to read in order to be able to read the Bible and have a personal relationship with God. Yet how many of us who call ourselves Christian crack our Bibles open, blow off the dust, and bother to read them very often?

So thank God if you can read.

Frankly, I could've (and I suppose should've) made this a really short post because I was just thinking about how thankful I am for books. Mysteries, satires, and poetry. I love reading- and it goes without saying (from how long this post has become) I love writing.  Book stores, libraries, online book sharing clubs, Amazon, audio books, and now ebooks and blogs, magazines and websites. Letters! Emails! Texts & Twitters!

Thank you God for words, and as long as I'm at it, thank you for Your Word.

THANX | 07- If you can read this...

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” ~Isaiah 30:20-21

If you can read this, thank a teacher.

This past weekend in Charter Oak, where I live, we celebrated the retirement of a friend who has taught English and Speech/Drama for 30 years. 

She talked about how insignificant she felt her career is in the grand scheme of things. She compared it to dipping your hand in a bowl of water. While it's there, it displaces the water, but once you pull it out, no one knows it was there- the water returns to it's original level, as if it had never been displaced.

We felt differently. We feel like her example was more like a rock dropped in a pond. Waves ripple out and effect the whole pond. Many of her students went on to become teachers themselves, most became parents. She may have been just one teacher at a small school in a small town in the middle of the Midwest, but the way she taught and the values she exemplified both effect and affect generations.

Which teachers and coaches have made a difference in your life? Who do you find yourself emulating? Who's voice most often ends up being that voice in your head?

Thank God for them, for the planning and preparing and sweat and toil. Thank God for their example, their caring, their efforts.

Thank You, Lord for teachers.