Thank God for Who He Is

Before we discuss the reason for the season, what is the reason for your thanks?

I hope you have been thinking about something more than Something to Think About, because I haven't offered much grist for your thought-mill, lately. Out here way past what most of you consider West, it's Thanksgiving. I can smell the turkey cooking. As soon as I finish this I'll join my friends at church for a Thanksgiving morning service. I can truthfully say that I am thankful. I am challenged, though, by the unknown poet of Psalm 107, to ask myself, "Why?" Millions of people will recite today, "God is good, all the time," but I fear that most will not wrestle with the fact that God is good, even when He's not being good to me. Don't tune me out just yet, I haven't forgotten Romans 8:28. In this Psalm, though we read of hunger, thirst, wandering, sickness, imprisonment, storms, distress, and depression. Much of the language lays the cause of this at the feet of God. Is God good? The Psalm begins with this statement:          Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,          For His lovingkindness is everlasting. It is not a statement of "good to me," but of God's character. As I give thanks today, will my gratitude be anchored in an appreciation of who God is? It's STTA (Something To Think About).

Thankful For Faithful Servants with Whom to Serve

Thankful For Faithful Servants with Whom to Serve:

"As long as you want us to, from now till the Lord returns, or whenever, I’ll be content to be your song leader, carry your bag, go anywhere, do anything you want me to do.”  Those were the words of Cliff Barrow, who continued to work with Billy Graham for six decades.  The song-leader and long-time associate of the most famous evangelist in the last century died November 15th.  You can read more about his remarkable life and career here. I was privileged to work with a number of people who displayed that same kind of loyalty.  Like Barrows, my associates were/are not primarily dedicated to their human leader.  They saw working with me as an opportunity to serve the Lord.  For my part, I came to realize decades ago that my primary ministry was to provide an environment in which these faithful folk could do their ministry.  Even now, as Kathy and I have stepped out of leadership at CBC, some of those who started with me, back at the beginning, remain my front-line encouragers. I'm thankful, more grateful than I can express. My prayers are with the Barrows family.  I'm encouraged by his life well lived.  I'm thankful for his ministry and wonderful example.  Let's live and serve so others will be thankful while we remain, and thankful for what we have done, when we are gone. To those with whom I have been privileged serve the Lord, Thank you.  And, Thank you Lord for those faithful associates. It's STTA.

Thankful to be Uninfected

Thankful For My Health, and Those Who Help Maintain It:

I just came home from my dentist's office.  It was a completely painless visit.  All I did was speak to the receptionist and returned home.  I have a fairly impressive array of metal in my body, so I'm supposed to take an antibiotic before I have dental work done.  I had forgotten to "pre-medicate."   You might be surprised to know that I'm not really aggravated.  I'm thankful.   Part of my memories from my childhood are of my great grandfather and a great aunt, who had broken their hips.  One walked with a terrible limp, the other was bed-fast.  My late Father-in-law broke his wrist.  He never regained full use of that hand, and it caused him a good bit of pain.  I have known folk with worn out knees.  Their lives have been severely limited.  The reason I need to take antibiotics is because surgeon put my broken hip and wrist back together, and another replaced my worn out knee with a new titanium and plastic model.  Sure, I'd rather have the original equipment than my metal parts, but I far prefer them to the crippled states I spoke of a moment ago. Not only am I a beneficiary of the incredible skill, and marvelous technology of orthopedic medicine, I live in an era in which people have been incredibly helped by antibiotic medicines.  I know it is popular to talk about the overuse, and misuse of antibiotics, but before the development of medications like penicillin: 90% of children with bacterial meningitis died. Among those children who lived, most had severe and lasting disabilities, from deafness to mental retardation. Strep throat was at times a fatal disease, and ear infections sometimes spread from the ear to the brain, causing severe problems. Other serious infections, from tuberculosis to pneumonia to whooping cough, were caused by aggressive bacteria that reproduced with extraordinary speed and led to serious illness and sometimes death. (https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/treatments/Pages/The-History-of-Antibiotics.aspx) We have the luxury of speaking about the inappropriate use of these "wonder-drugs" because we live on the back side of the changes these medications brought.  They are one of the reasons that life-expectancy in the United States has doubled in the past century-and-a-half. My wasted trip to the tooth-doctor served to remind me of the blessing I enjoy every day--a measure of health that was unheard of for accident-prone senior-citizens through most of history.  Many of you who read this do so through corrective lenses.  Some of you, like me, use hearing-aids.  Some of you are able to function because your diabetes, hyper-tension, heart ailment, or other chronic condition is controlled with a doctor's and/or pharmacist's assistance.   Sure, there is much about our healthcare system that needs to be improved.  In the USA, following, our recent election it is a hot topic.  In the midst of addressing what needs to be changed, let's just be sure to not forget to give thanks.   Lord, help me to be thankful for those things I so often take for granted. AMEN It's STTA.

Thankful, #2

Thankful For So Much:

I sit in a warm, secure house.  The empty plate from my breakfast is by my side.  My lovely wife just came in from her daily exercise walk.  I'm not a prophet, but experience tells me that in a few minutes she'll fill my coffee cup with some fresh brew.  I'm working to be more aware of, and more thankful for all that is around me.  I'm not living like a proverbial ostrich; I know there are problems and I write with sensitivity for those who are dealing with true hardship.  I encourage all of us, even those who are having hard times, to follow the Apostle Paul's example.     "I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me"  (Philippians 4:12–13).   His words teach us that a spirit of thankfulness has less to with what we have, and more to do with the attitude in our heart.   Lord, make me more thankful. And, by the way, I'm thankful for that refill, and the lovely lady who just brought it.  :) I hope you'll join me in a time of greater thanksgiving. It's STTA.

In the Thanksgiving mode:

Thankful:

Maybe it's the cold weather at night, more likely it is the fact that by the end of this week I'll be with my family for a visit that takes in the Thanksgiving holiday, but whatever the reason I shifted into Thanksgiving mode this morning. It's good, but it is also sad.  Anytime we have a greater realization of God's goodness and an enhanced commitment to make His grace toward us known that is a good thing.  That I don't dwell in that state of gratitude all the time is sad.  I'm not going to spend any more time in that mental bog.  Instead I'll simply take this opportunity to thank the Lord and to ask Him to give me a greater awareness of His blessings that all around me.  I'm seeking to stay in the Thanksgiving mode. I hope you will join me. It's STTA.

"But, what have you done for me, lately?"

In his last recorded speech, the leader of Israel, Joshua, attacks a common syndrome--"What have you done for me lately?"  Teachers, bosses who really care about their employees, certainly parents, and pastors often run into this query.  It is almost never spoken, but often comes across with near deafening volume.   In Joshua 24, the old general takes the role of prophet.  God speaks throughhim, reminding the people of all that He had done, all the way back to their nation's earliest roots.  This cornucopia of blessing is summed up in vs. 12-13. "It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory.  I gave you land you had not worked on, and I gave you towns you did not build—the towns where you are now living. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them." Dave Ramsey, a Christian financial adviser, and radio host universally replies to the greeting, "How are you doing?" with, "Better than I deserve."  It's an answer not only worth giving, but one that I should internalize.  Joshua brought his people to that realization.  "Look around at where you live.  Take a moment and feel the satisfaction of the last meal you ate.    Think about the fact that your children are in safety.  You don't deserve any of that.  You didn't do any of it."  As I survey my situation I see much the same--Better--far better--than I deserve. If all that's expected of me is a polite "Thank YOU."  I'm OK with the observation that I'm blessed beyond anything I have a right to expect.  Joshua, however, together with the Apostle Paul (Romans 12:1) indicates that a recognition of past blessing ought to lead to appropriate present action--fear the Lord, serve Him, and present my body.  At that point I feel that question welling up, ridiculous as it is, "But what have you done for me LATELY?" That kind of ingratitude on a people to people level is bad enough.  On a creature to creator level it is sinful in the fullest sense. More this Sunday morning at 10:45. With gratitude that you read these thoughts, It's STTA

Something To Think About, Being Thankful:

Being thankful implies someone to whom one gives thanks.  If I find a twenty-dollar bill on the street, I have a sense of good fortune--what we often call "lucky," but to whom on earth do I say "Thank You"?  If I knew, I would return the money to its owner and would have no $20 for which to give thanks.  That vague, unspecified feeling of gratitude is coming to pervade our celebration of Thanksgiving.  We have no one to whom to give thanks, and often we fail to really identify reasons for thanksgiving, so we try to muster up warm feelings by looking at pictures of turkeys and Pilgrims. How different is the Thanksgiving we find in Scripture. Psalm 136 is an example of this robust Thanksgiving.  “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. To Him who alone does great wonders, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; To Him who made the heavens with skill . . . To Him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn . . . divided the Red Sea asunder . . .  And made Israel pass through the midst of it. . . For His lovingkindness is everlasting, And has rescued us from our adversaries. . . Give thanks to the God of heaven, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.” (Psalm 136, NASB95)  Click here for an unedited copy of Psalm 136. Let's let this Psalm be a guide for our gratitude.   The recurring line about God's everlasting lovingkindness reminds us that the basis of our gratitude is not chance, but the very character of God.  The Psalmist leads the people of Israel through the history of God's  acts of  power and goodness to the people of Israel.  Each of us could make our own list of God's acts on our behalf. Two questions to ask about thanksgiving, as we prepare for Thanksgiving: To whom am I thankful? For what am I thankful? Write your own Psalm of Thanksgiving.   It's Something To Think About.

Something To Think About Thank you, 6/6

Seventy years ago my uncle, Sergeant Hugh A. Merrell, of the 12th InfantryRegiment, 4th Infantry Division came ashore on Utah Beach, Normandy France.  Before leaving England a future president addressed my Uncle and his comrades.  I don't know if my uncle ever saw him, but  the success of the landing on Utah Beach owed much to the son a former president, General Theodore Roosevelt Jr. who famously declared, after discovering that the troops had landed about a mile South of their intended target, "We'll start the war from right here." I don't know, I'd like to think Uncle Hugh Allen was near enough that he could have heard Capt. Kaye.  Kaye was reading his New Testament, when one of the soldiers said, "If what you're reading is any good, how about sharing it with us?" Kaye did.  He read from John 14, "Let not your heart be troubled . . ." Uncle Hugh Allen was likely involved in the "Hedgerow war," as the troops literally slogged through a patchwork of lowland fields surrounded by massive, ancient hedgerows, when his baby brother, my dad, Audley N. (Doc) Merrell enlisted.  Some of those who came ashore with my uncle, fought along side my dad about half a year later.  The middle brother, Uncle Mc, Horton  McNeely, had already been in Olive Drab for a year-and-a-half.  He was taken prisoner of war about the time my dad was being deployed.  He emerged with Tuberculosis, and failing eyesight that soon led to total blindness.  It is almost certain that Uncle Mc(arm behind back) and my Dad (smiling) entered the European Theater of Operations across the Beach their brother had helped secure.  If they had known, and been able, they likely could have gotten to their brother's grave in an hour or two.  Until a year ago, when my brother, some of his family, and I visited Uncle Hugh Allen's grave, that was as near as any family had ever been. One history of the Normandy Campaign records,  "On 6 July, General Collins threw in the 4th Division, on a front mainly west of the Carentan-Periers highway. A 500-yard advance brought the 4th Division up to the first of three enemy MLR's [major lines of resistance]."  I assume that it was in this offensive that Sergeant Hugh A. Merrell died.  Less than a week later, General Roosevelt died from a heart attack.  He, Uncle Hugh Allen, and 9,385 others, are buried in the Normandy American Cemetery above Omaha Beach.  Another 1,557, who died, but whose remains were not recovered, are also memorialized there. To those who gave so much, THANK YOU. It's STTA.

THANKS MOM!

A little over sixty years ago Irene Merrell gave birth to her first-born, a son, me.
It is the first of many acts for which I am very thankful on this Mother's Day weekend. Thanks, Mom!
I grew up in the era when youngsters still got chicken-pox, measles, and mumps. Mom nursed me through all of them, plus a fractured collarbone, seriously messed up knee and an occasional broken heart. "I'm there for you." is a trite, often false, catch-phrase of our culture. In my life, though, in profoundly real ways, my Mom was there.
Unfortunately, my "Happy Mother's Day" won't be in person. Mom lives with one of my sisters. Thanks Sis' for being mom to Mom. Like many folk in her age bracket, Mom is dealing with some health issues. I hope to see her next month.

Not only to my Mom, but to all you ladies who make life so much better, and with cookies and milk to boot, Happy Mother's Day.


It is STTA.