The Wonder Of Thanksgiving

When one is depressed and darkness seems to overwhelm the soul, one sure panacea for such malady of heart is thanksgiving. From early years, we encourage our children to say "thank-you" whenever something good is done for them. In the same way, our Heavenly Father in His Word, the Bible, urges us to "give thanks". There is something very uplifting and natural about giving thanks.

The Canadian Thanksgiving is very close at hand (October 9th). The American Thanksgiving is near the end of November. Regardless of which one we celebrate, I urge you "in everything" to "give thanks! For this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 5:18).

May I suggest that you start making a list of thanksgiving items. If you are sincere and diligent you will find a page or two quickly filled with things for which you can thank the Lord. The hymnwriter put it this way,

"When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Chorus:
Count you blessings name them one by one,
Count your blessings see what God has done.
Count your blessings, Name them one by one,
Count your many blessings see what God has done."

The book of Psalms in the Bible is just filled with praise and thanksgiving. This Thanksgiving, why not meditate on great Thanksgiving Psalms like Psalm 103, Psalm 16, Psalm 27, Psalm 46? Whatever you do, encourage your friends and family to pause before eating to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and mercy. We live in a land of great bounty and freedom. God has given His Son, the Lord Jesus, for us that we might be saved through His death and live forever. In our own language, He has given His Word, the Bible to us. What people on earth have more for which to praise
the Lord than us? Even the adversities of life He brings together for our good ultimately (Romans 8: 28). In such Hell-holes as Iraq and Afghanistan, God is still in charge and His will will be done. He will overcome extremists who use religion as a cloak for their cruelty. Believing this can help us make sense out the world in which we live and encourage us to give thanks!

Are you downcast? Do you feel discouraged? Are you inwardly despondent and even depressed? Try thanksgiving. It will change you inner being from a spirit of heaviness to one of praise. God bless you and yours this Thanksgivng!

The hymnwriter, Fanny J. Crosby, was the most prolific writer of hymns who ever lived. She wrote more hymns and Christian poems than any one who ever lived (over 10,000!). She was blinded when just an infant by wrong medication that was put in her eyes. But she refused to go through life with a chip on her shoulder, so to speak. One of her great hymns was, "To God Be The Glory". Another was, "Blessed Assurance." Sing these songs and others like them this Thanksgiving and that will help you be filled with joy. We wish you the best as you explore ways to give expression to thanksgiving this time of the year and indeed all year round. Keep looking up!

Life Is Cheap...Or Is It?

Looking over our world even in a casual way might lead one to the conclusion that life is cheap. Violence, bloody warfare, abortion, terrorism against civilians especially, suicide bombing, the 9/11 tragedy,the inhumanity of man to man, incurable diseases like AIDS - all these and much more would indicate a complete lack of worth for human life. As I write this blog today, we have just received reports on the bloody massacre at Dawson College in Montreal. They do not know yet how many students have died or are injured. What a tragedy! In his blog, the young twenty-five year old shooter, a Canadian by birth, describes people as "worthless". The result of such negative thinking was the shooting spree he initiated at Dawson College today, striking terror into the heart of the students and others.
Recently, I was standing in line outside a medical blood clinic when another man began to talk with me. Soon the caretaker of the parking lot and buildings came along cleaning everything up. Very recently the medical building had been vandalized by people trying to break in. They wanted to enter the pharmacy where they thought they would be able to acquire drugs. They were frustrated by their mistakes and never did make it into the pharmacy. The man in the lineup said to me, "We could get rid of all this human riff-raff for thirty five cents per person, you know. "POW!" "Just one bullet in a gun, pull the trigger and they're gone. Then burn their bodies and it would be as if they never existed." He then proceeded to muse that this would also be a good way to get rid of Vancouver's homeless and even unwanted (by him!) foreigners coming into our country. Wow!! Heady stuff, eh? It seemed a bit reminiscent of the Nazi holocaust.
How thankful I am that such destructive thinking has not taken over Canadian society. It did remind me, however, that we are always only a hair's breadth away from mob rule. Some approach it a different way. Take, for example, those who rationalize that there would be no consequences if we withdrew our troops from Afghanistan and if America lost her resolve and pulled out of Iraq. Yet they endanger us all. They are unwittingly allowing the baser instincts of man to rule and we are the poorer for it. When all we can think of is saving our own skin, so to speak, we are in terrible straits. We are always at our best when we make every effort to uplift others and make their plight better.
The Bible is a book that seeks to save man from himself and bring the best out of each one of us. Our country and the U.S. to south of us were founded on the Bible. In God's Word the value of a life is clearly seen. In fact, Jesus loved us so much that He laid down His life for us. Hear the Word of God when it says, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."(John 3: 16)
Possibly Psalm 8: 4-6 encapsulates it all for us: "What is man that You are mindful of him, the son of man that You care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler over the works of Your hands; you put everything under his feet....O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth." Psalm 139 speaks of God's closeness to each one of us.
It reminds me of a T-shirt I used to see which said, "I ain't junk, cause God don't make junk!" (Pardon the incorrect English grammar!) Steve Irwin, the crocodile hunter who died so tragically recently from a stingray attack, used to take animals from the wild and show us their worth by explaining how beautiful they are in their own way. Similarly, we need to take humankind with all of its diversity and proclaim the dignity of human life. Then, as God does,love unconditionally all our fellow man.