Thanksgiving

"I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States,
and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands,
to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of
Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to
Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble
penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His
tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or
sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged,
and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds
of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine
purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

Abraham Lincoln

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Philippians 4:6

Growing up

I watched a middle school basketball game last night with Nick. To my pleasant surprise I knew several of the players on the the "other team". I watched the best player on the other team score several times before realizing that he was on one of Nick's baseball teams several years ago. He had grown up (about a foot taller). After speaking to his father and mother after the game, the young man came and spoke to me. I congratulated him for the great game. When I spoke to him I recognized his face, yet I recoginzed that he had matured a great deal. For the last few weeks I have shared messages about "lessons learned". This young man illustrates the goal of my messages. Maturity should be recognizable. "Lessons learned" produce obvious changes in us. The process of spiritual maturation is not hidden from those around us. If it is hidden - it makes me wonder if it's happening.

How's your heart?

I was reading today that 900 Americans die every day from Coronary Heart Disease. That is a staggering statistic. No doubt, many of those who died had no idea that their heart problems were as serious as they were. This weekend I will be sharing a message from Deuteronomy 8:2 where Moses was reminding the people that God led them through the wilderness to test them and know what was in their hearts. So, in spiritual terms, they didn't know the condition of their hearts. God was using the wilderness as a "stress test". He didn't have to hook them up to an ECG or put them on a treadmill. Their actions revealed (very clearly) what was in their hearts. The wilderness was a great stress test. I guess being a pastor qualifies me to be an amateur spiritual cardiologist. By my observation we have a pretty big problem acknowledging our heart conditions. Sometimes a wilderness time exposes the severity of our condition. Even then, we can choose to ignore the signs or turn to God for some emergency repair work.

Post Election Thoughts

This morning some are celebrating victory and others are agonizing over defeat. Whether your focus is on the national election or local matters, the results reveal that matters either went the way you hoped or you are left to deal with disappointment. Likewise, the election may have gone the way you prayed or not. What concerns me today is the potential to forget the need for prayer now that the election is over. Please don't misunderstand me, I believe that it was and is important to pray in anticipation of elections. However, it is no less important to pray now that the elections have passed. Those who were elected need our prayers. Our nation as a whole needs our prayers. We need to be prayerful because prayer helps bring change in us. It helps us to listen to God's voice and align with His plans and purposes. Prayer is much bigger than whether our candidtes win or lose.