Thanksgiving Once More

Thanksgiving feels a lot like the red-headed stepchild of holidays lately, don’t you think? It seems that in the retail world, most jump from Halloween directly into tinsel and mistletoe and everything Christmas. You don’t really see much in the way of Thanksgiving decorations and there’s one lone television special dedicated to this holiday (at least that I’m aware of). And there aren’t too many artists jumping on the Thanksgiving album bandwagon lately.

But Thanksgiving has never really been about crazy shopping or spending lots of money. I’ve always thought of it as a quiet sort of holiday without the need of commercialism or promotion. To me it’s been about good food and good times with family around the table. It’s been about setting aside one day in the year to reflect back on the blessings and plenty that we’ve received and to be grateful and thankful for it.

I know when I honestly assess my own life, I have much to be thankful for. Sure, I don’t have everything I want. But I have everything I need and then some.

I heard once that if all God did for me was save me and that was all, I’d still owe him an eternity of praise. Even if he never gave me one more blessing or gift beyond that, I’d run out of time before I gave him the thanks he was due.

But God has done so much more than that. He woke me up again this morning. He let me enjoy the day with good health and the freedom to express my faith as I see fit and to live my life as I choose. He has even allowed me to make the dumb choices and reminded me that those mistakes aren’t the end of the world and those failures aren’t what really define me at the end of the day. His love for me does.

So I’m thankful. I may be like a broken record when I say that I’m thankful for all of you who read this little blog, but I say it anyway. I hope each of you have plenty to be thankful for. I pray God reminds you of all the blessings, great and small, that you have received.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I Made This!

I made a pumpkin hazelnut cheesecake today.

Normally, I am not a culinary-type. I enjoy good food, but I am normally not a fan of creating new good foods. I’d rather eat someone else’s cooking for the most part.

But I got wild and daring. I found a recipe for pumpkin hazelnut cheesecake online and said to myself (not out loud), “What the heck? Why not?” Even when the recipe called for hazelnut flour, which I was unaware even existed until I saw it in bold letters on the printout.

So I followed the recipe to the letter, step by step, hoping I wouldn’t blow up the kitchen or inadvertently create a new life form out of the ingredients.

It is a good feeling knowing that you have created something. Whether it’s a song or a poem or a book or a photo, it’s an amazing rush knowing that you have put something new out into the universe.

I think that when God made us, he didn’t marvel at his own creative skills. He didn’t prance about the garden of Eden yelling how awesome a job he did. He simply said, “This is very good.”

Get that? He said that YOU are very good. Not because you pull $1 million a year or because you’re in the 100 most beautiful people list. Simply because God made you and liked what he saw.

OK, I’m not sure how I got from cheesecake to theology, but roll with it. Remember that whatever anybody else says about you or how they assess your worth, God has already rated you “very good,” and that is ultimately the only opinion that really matters.

So, enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner. Eat lots of turkey (or tofurkey or chicken or tofu or whatever makes you happy). Get that second helping of dessert. Heck, try ‘em all. Holiday calories don’t count (or at least I read that on the internet, so it’s got to be true).

And remember you are precious and unique and chosen by God himself.

An Ode to the Last Twinkie on Earth

If you skim the headlines, you may get the impression that the twinkie, that perfect little concoction from Hostess with no actual food ingredients, is going away forever. You might be one of those who are hoarding up on the tasty little snacks in anticipation of the demise of Hostess and the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

I myself bought two boxes.

But before you give in to despair, read a little closer. Twinkies aren’t going away. In all likelihood, some other company will buy the rights to the brand and start making their own twinkies. And they will be just as bad for you and just as loaded with preservatives and ingredients that you can’t possibly pronounce as the current incarnation. And they will be just as tasty.

If, God forbid, twinkies should cease to exist, then the unthinkable might actually happen. No, I don’t mean an invasion by zombies or a crisis of cataclysmic and global proportions. I mean you and I might just have to start eating healthy. Egads.

Wheat and Weeds

I keep thinking about wheat and weeds a lot. Not because I’m in need of medication (and yes, they do make pills for this), but because I’m still thinking about a particular sermon I heard Sunday. It was that good.

I’m wheat. Just go with it and it will make sense further on (I hope). I am planted in a field where wheat and weeds are mixed together and sometimes are hard to tell apart.

My job is not to try to decide which is which.

I could make a list of top ten most dangerous weeds– that is, the people I’d most like God to take out and smite. The problem with that is that I am most likely on someone else’s List of Folks for God to Smite Tomorrow.

Or I could just be the best wheat I can be and love people.

Oh yeah, I forgot one thing. I was once a weed.

In other words, I once was purpose-less and no good for anybody or anything. I once had no hope at all and was headed for a grim ending.

But God made me wheat. Is that anymore hard to believe than God changing me from dead to alive, from sinner  to saint, from stanger to family, from alienated to beloved? No.

If God can to that in me, He can do it in anyone. Trust me on that.

From this moment on, I am believing the best about everyone I meet. I believe God can change anyone, make broken and dead people whole and alive, take your mess and make it your message, and help you find your YES, the reason you were born.

I choose to see you not as you are, but what you will look like when God gets through with you (and trust me, what I’m seeing is absolutely stunning!) I’m praying to see you with God’s eyes and love you with God’s heart and be God’s hands and feet to help you get to where God designed for you to shine.

Cause that’s just what wheat does.

Invited

(This was largely inspired by a sermon I heard today at Fellowship Bible Church. I highly recommend checking out the podcast on their website, fellowshipnashville.org.)

“You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat” (Matthew 5:6).

Imagine the most lavish, ornate dinner party ever thrown. Call it a banquet or a gala if that helps.

Or if that’s not your cup of tea, imagine the biggest, wildest rave ever thrown with a top-notch dj and a lineup of great bands.

Imagine the guest list. You would think it would be full of celebrities and moguls and people who are listed in places like People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People or Time magazine’s 50 Most Powerful People or Forbe’s 50 Most Wealthiest People in the World.

It’s not. If you look at the list closely enough, you see the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame, the outcast, and the orphan. You see people that ordinarily wouldn’t even be let in the door.

Look closer. You see your name and my name there. We’ve been invited.

That’s the idea behind Jesus’ parable. The original guest list accepted but then backed out at the very last minute. So the King authorized the servants to go find the least of these and bring them in. Then he told them to go into the highways and byways and find people and compel them to come.

That’s our job as believers. Invite people to the best feast with the best food they’ll ever eat. We’re to compel them to come. Not in the sense of holding them at gun point, but to do all that is in our power to get them to come.

Jesus Himself told us what was on the menu. He said things like “I am the Bread of Life” and “Whoever drinks of me will never be thirsty again.” He’s not only the one inviting us, He’s the feast. He is the party.

We say, “You can come as you are. You don’t have to get cleaned up first. You don’t have to bring anything other than just your appetite”

That’s the Kingdom of God– a party like you’ve never seen offered to people like you and me who can’t seem to ever get their acts together and always seem to make stupid choices and dumb mistakes.

The sad part is that the most religious people and the most holier-than-thou types won’t be there. Jesus said matter of factly to the Pharisees that they wouldn’t even get a taste of the banquest because they rejected the offer a second time.

The best part is that for people like you and me, the offer still stands.

Will you come? Will you invite someone else?