Happy Thanksgiving!

I mean that from the bottom of my heart!  We have so much to be thankful for.  I think of the times when I’ve been abroad on Thanksgiving and even when there’s not been one thing I recognize….not a turkey to be seen or even the celebrations I’ve been used to here in the States I have still felt that presence of God and the prayers of those that know and love me.  I realize that this is the essence of what it’s all about above and beyond the food and all the trimmings…beyond what’s on the TV I find that as usual God is what makes thankfulness possible and this is a wonderful day to reflect on that fact.  I’m very grateful to have a God purpose in my life.  I’m a person that needs to have a cause that’s higher than me and God in His graciousness has given me just that.  Tomorrow we will begin very early with concerts designed to sing about what God has done and is doing.  Some say they hate Christmas…they say it’s all about commercialism but me?  I believe Christmas is like Thanksgiving…it’s what you make it.  I believe in involving God in it all and loving it all.  Nobody needs more hate in the world.  We’ll sing about how God loves us all the way up to Christmas and how wonderful that it won’t be all about commercialism for us.  I think of the time I was in India on Christmas…it wasn’t about gifts it was about church and family…same when I was in the Philippines…it taught me a lot about what matters and helped me understand what my mom has always tried to do on these holidays and throughout the year.  God bless those that don’t let these holidays just be a day that doesn’t reflect what goes on throughout the rest of the year.

 

I have to admit that the difficult weather has made me miss the tropical weather in Ghana very much but more I miss the people.  They are so beautiful, and so anointed.  Like us I think they don’t really know just how blessed they are.  I see it everywhere when I’m there because I’m not used to it.  The ocean isn’t in our backyard you see  The waves don’t crash on our doorstep here.  Is that why it’s so beautiful to me?  Even the impossibly red earth stands in contrast to what I’m used tobut is it that which strikes a chord so deep in my heart?  Is it the exotic seas with fishermen so foreign to these eyes of mine?  Is it the contrast of coastline and ocean and the endless struggle of the tide that touches me?  You see, I don’t think so, I think these new things let me see what I’ve got right next to me that’s so valuable.  I turn and see my wife talking to two Filipinos…I’ve never seen Filipinos in Ghana before though they may have been there before.  Not everything in life necessarily looks palatable at first glance but if you dare to try it and see that though different it might actually be something that God is using to bless you then you might be pleasantly surprised by something that you would have possibly walked right past before!  Looking up again I saw the wonderful ocean as not something out there but something that I am a part of too.  The beauty of this place couldn’t be witnessed if someone wasn’t there to appreciate it after all.  The truth is life is so much in need of people to see the beauty in it.  Life itself is wasted on those that don’t recognize the beauty of what God is doing even in difficult situationsor maybe beauty is even more when seen through the eyes of faith in a difficult situation.  After all what would waves be without the resistance of a shore to crash against?  You, dear friends have been the lighthouse beyond the cleft in the rock that God provides.  I am so thankful for those that have been a light shining in the darkness for me because it has been the imagine of what God has always been to me.  Now as we eat whatever bounty is provided today.  I pray that we walk away not just seeing the frills of something nobody truly appreciatesbut Lord please let us know that every day we are given is a day to be thankful for because it’s by His grace that we stand and breathe another breath.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!