Thanksgiving Blessing!

Good News 112102A Thanksgiving 

"As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord,
so live in him, rooted and built up in
him and established in the faith,
just as you were taught,
abounding in thanksgiving".
(Colossians 2:6-7) 

            June and I are especially thankful for a family running event we started in 1990, now called the Turkey Day 5K. Each year we are tearfully proud when 10,000 plus runners, walkers, pets and wheel chair participants enjoy their Thanksgiving morning in downtown Minneapolis.  As an aside, but probably more important, will be the contributions of food and hard cash that will be received by the Second Harvest food shelf.  This year, owner operator has fulfilled our dream and taken the event to several cities and it is now a national event. (Boise, Chicago, Minneapolis, Phoenix and San Frisco) We both feel blessed that the Lord gave us the inspiration start this event and placed people in our path who have made it special.

             Thanksgiving is the traditional start of what we call the holiday season. While giving thanks we must be aware and focusing on the good rewarding parts of our lives; focusing on the positive. 

I like the way H. Norman Wright put it, "Thanksgiving is not to be limited to only the times when we are aware of blessings. Let us give thanks even when we have a problem to solve, when there are difficulties to be met.  At these times, we give thanks to God for unconditional love and goodness, for unlimited wisdom and abundance. When we give thanks continually, we are rejuvenated- spirit, mind and body."

    Let us hold those thoughts and be thankful for all of our blessings.

Thought for Today: Let us focus  on giving thanks to God for the love we have for each other and the support we both give and receive.

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord and Father, this week we give you thanks for our friends, our families and our troubles. Yes, we give you thanks for our financial crises, our family stress and the ripples in our personal seas of tranquility. Trough our troubles we learn to pray and appreciate the many blessings that seem greater when compared with the ripples of life. We give you thanks for our lives, your love and your Grace.
Amen

Desire

Good News 060101 Desire

"Flee the evil desires of youth,
and pursue righteousness, faith love and peace...”
(2timothy 2 verse 22)

            In this letter, Paul sounds a lot like my mom sounded during high school. During my teen years listening was not my strong suit. How could a ranked athlete and honor student be a bad guy? In my mind my record justified my behaviors and the price paid was ten years that today I refer to as my dark period. Those year were the times I spent learning how life really was a two way street as opposed to a one way street that I owned.

            Faith somehow stayed with me and praying was often present when the darkness was dominant. God was with me in spite of my behaviors. He was always there and I would reach out to him just as Popeye would grab for his spinach. And, just like Popeye’s spinach, He always came through for me. He will also come through for you.

Thought for Today: Today will not be perfect so keep your prayer close by and ask for support! 

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, today we thank you for the goodness in our lives and the hope and love that tomorrow will surely bring.

Amen

Love and Respect!

0528 Good News 050111 Respect & Love 

“May the Lord make your love increase

and overflow for each other and for everyone else,

just as ours does for you.”

(1 Thessalonians 3 vs. 12)           

            Love and respect are the two things that abound in our faith. If we could spread this around the world we could save a fortune on armaments. Unfortunately, jealousy, hate, and disrespect tend to fester all around us also. Maybe we just have to learn to live with it.

            The founding fathers set us up as a democratic republic; a free nation of free people. They also said “In God we trust” and then set up a clear separation between the Government and religion.We want to be free and we Christians want our God, our friends and peace on earth. It is a conundrum!

            Our role is stated clearly by Paul’s message in Thessaloniki: Our role is to grow in the Spirit and with that will come love. The result of spiritual growth is that love and respect blossom and jealousies, hate and disrespect fade away. 

Thought for Today: Today we will interact with people. Many we will choose to see and are glad. That is the easy piece. We will also have to interact with someone we would rather avoid. No matter what the reason, let us show our Christian love and respect for them. 

Prayer for Today: Dear Lord, today we give thanks for our friends family and acquaintances; the people that bring pleasure and peace to our lives. Today we pray that we can also bring pleasure and peace to everyone through our love and respect.

Amen

This is the Day!

Thought for the Week: This is the day (week)  that the Lord has made, let us rejoice! We will experience ups and downs but with the hope of God in our hearts, the downs can be short, the ups can be high it can be a week of joy. It is our choice.

Aristotle said it this way: “Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.” 

Romans 15verse 13

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace

 as you trust in him,

so that you may overflow with hope

by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Slow Down!

"Be still and acknowledge that I am God"

(Psalm 46:10)           

            The coming holiday season will be very busy. A joke went around last week that we need to stuff our thanksgiving turkey with Prozac to help with holiday stress. 

            In his book Bread for the Table, Henry Nouwen says it this way, These are words to take with us in our busy lives. We may think about stillness in contrast to our noisy world. But perhaps we can go further and keep an inner stillness even while we carry on … It is important to keep a still place in the "marketplace". This still place is where God can dwell and speak to us. …with that stillness God can be our gentle guide in everything we think and do. 

Thought for Today: As the holidays approach, let us take time to be at peace with our loved ones. Let us be sure that God will be a present in our lives. 

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, the world around us is confusing, sometimes cruel and always difficult to understand. Please allow us time to step aside from our busyness and dwell upon "your will" rather than "our needs". Let us find the peace or stillness to allow "thy will to be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Winter Thoughts!

Thought for Today: Today let us be thankful for those around us. Be at peace and demonstrate our passion and love to others. We are facing a long winter with short days and long nights. Let us be the light that people are searching for!

 From "Strength To Love," Martin Luther King, Jr.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction.  

(Matthew 5:14-16)

“You are the light of the world.
A city on a hill cannot be hidden.
Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand,
and it gives light to everyone in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

Win-Win !!!!!

Good News 011803 Win-Win 

"...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 honor."
(Psalm 8:4,5) 

           In America there seems to be a win lose philosophy running rampant through out our society. There is a lot of hero worship devoted to overpaid athletes and a lack of compromise in our political system. We seem to have adopted Vince Lombardi's attitude "Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing". Well, that may be our world, but it is not God's world.

        The Psalmist above clearly demonstrates that we were created a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory. There is plenty of God's love for each of us. There are world wide resources that when shared in God's way will do for all. We live in a great world with great people and somehow we taint it with our own un-Godly behaviors.

        As a young athlete in the 40's, I remember the expression "It's not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game that counts". Somehow that has stuck with me through out my life. It is an expression of a win-win philosophy. I think that is what God had in mind.

Thought for Today: Today let us focus on creating win-win situations in our lives. Observe our surroundings and lighten them up a bit. Slow for the other drivers, merge rather than block. Open a door and allow a few people through. Sit forward in church and leave some room in the back for late comers. Let's show everyone that we all can win.

Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, the world is a place of high stress with unrest in the mid east and financial crises in the free world. There has developed a winner take all attitude. This week we pray for reason and understanding. We pray that we can find peace and fellowship with our fellow man rather than anger and violence. Amen.