"It's
beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere you go." This past
Saturday the Central New York temperatures were in the mid to upper sixties,
warm and balmy. Alice and I drove over some of the back roads, past
meadows, fields, and pastures of our beautiful region. Hunting season has
begun in earnest in New York State. Both the avid and amateur hunters are out,
vigorously looking for the "big one". Some already have
bragging rights as they have brought down large deer, some eight pointers included.
Praise the Lord for the traditional rituals, such as when families gather to
venture into the woods for their hunting. Lo and behold, the winds came
in and the temperatures began to drop on Saturday evening, and then continued
to fall as a winter storm came into the area on Sunday.
The
Lord blessed us in His house yesterday as we gathered for worship, witness, and
celebration. Praise the Lord for this Thanksgiving week. People
travel all around the country to be with their loved ones and celebrate with
them.
Alice
was pleasantly surprised to get a text at 5:23 this morning, saying that school
was closed for today. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't get back to
sleep because she gets as excited as a child with snow days. She
perpetually dreams of a white Christmas, and at times the Lord answers that
prayer with a yes. She is busy today, planning to bake and cook, and has
a project on her knitting needles. She is also planning to put up her
first Christmas tree today. Alice is planning to bake traditional apple
and pumpkin pies later this week and plans to roast a large turkey (of
course!) We are using our own potatoes from our garden as well as
buttercup squash that was harvested locally. Winter squash from our
garden has made a regular appearance on the dinner table - sometimes roasted -
including buttercup, butternut, carnival, and delicata. This is courtesy
of the kindness and generosity of our farmer friend who prepared a plot of land
for our garden this summer, and who harvested the potatoes for us.
We
thank the Lord for each one of you, for your love and affection over all these
years. Our generous God and loving Savior lavishes us with all good and
perfect gifts that money cannot buy. We pray for the Lord's constant and
continued comfort over all those whose loved ones have gone to be with Jesus
over the course of this year. We are reminded that they are joining Jesus
at His banqueting table for the first time, for He is the Host and they are the
honored guests at His table. For this promise and assurance we are ever
so grateful to Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
John
Reynolds, in his Anecdotes of John Wesley (1828), told the story of
Wesley’s student days at Lincoln College in Oxford. A porter knocked on
Wesley’s door one evening and asked to speak with him. After some
conversation, Wesley noted the man’s thin coat (it was a cold winter night),
and suggested that he had better get a warmer one. The porter replied:
"This coat ... is the only coat I have in the world - and I thank God for
it." When asked if he had eaten, he replied: "I have had
nothing today but a draught of spring water ... and I thank God for that."
Wesley, growing uneasy in the man’s presence, reminded him that the headmaster would lock him out if he did not soon return to his quarters. "Then what shall you have to thank God for?", Wesley asked. "I will thank Him," replied the porter, "that I have dry stones to lie upon."
Deeply moved by the man’s sincerity, Wesley said, "You thank God when you have nothing to wear; ... nothing to eat ... [and] no bed to lie on. I cannot see what you have to thank God for." The man replied: "I thank God... that he has given me life and being; a heart to love Him, and a desire to serve Him."
The man left with a coat from Wesley’s closet, some money for food and words of appreciation for his living testimony. Wesley later wrote these words in his Journal: "I shall never forget that porter. He convinced me there is something in religion to which I am a stranger."
This anecdote is impressive, challenging, and begs the question, “Do I offer that kind of thanksgiving to God, or am I, as Wesley put it, a stranger to that side of religion?”
Wesley, growing uneasy in the man’s presence, reminded him that the headmaster would lock him out if he did not soon return to his quarters. "Then what shall you have to thank God for?", Wesley asked. "I will thank Him," replied the porter, "that I have dry stones to lie upon."
Deeply moved by the man’s sincerity, Wesley said, "You thank God when you have nothing to wear; ... nothing to eat ... [and] no bed to lie on. I cannot see what you have to thank God for." The man replied: "I thank God... that he has given me life and being; a heart to love Him, and a desire to serve Him."
The man left with a coat from Wesley’s closet, some money for food and words of appreciation for his living testimony. Wesley later wrote these words in his Journal: "I shall never forget that porter. He convinced me there is something in religion to which I am a stranger."
This anecdote is impressive, challenging, and begs the question, “Do I offer that kind of thanksgiving to God, or am I, as Wesley put it, a stranger to that side of religion?”
One of my favorite Psalms is Psalm 65. I
never get tired of reading it during this season. It invigorates me and
propels me to those moments when my heart is full of gratitude.
Psalm 65:9-13 "You take care of the earth and
water it, making it rich and fertile. The rivers of God will not run dry; they
provide a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. You
drench the plowed ground with rain, melting the clods and leveling the ridges.
You soften the earth with showers and bless its abundant crops. You crown
the year with a bountiful harvest; even the hard pathways overflow with
abundance. The wilderness becomes a lush pasture, and the hillsides
blossom with joy. The meadows are clothed with flocks of sheep, and the
valleys are carpeted with grain. They all shout and sing for joy!"
In Christ
Brown
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