Thankful?

Am I really thankful? In listening to a Thanksgiving Eve service at a local church it really got me thinking. As I sit and look at the year past I have so much to be thankful and yet deep down am I really thankful for the little things? John Ortberg in his book It all goes back in the Box said “Having to much can make a person ungrateful.”.

Today as I prepare to go to a Family gathering in which we will have way to much food of everything on the table and I am reminded of an article I read a while back called “Crumbs from your Table”. Find it here http://www.neueministry.com/2008/08/crumbs-from-your-table/ this talks about how much food we in the US waste. The numbers here are staggering. As I think about that spread that is going to be on that table today, my eyes swell with tears about how grateful I really should be with what I have not only today but everyday. This is how I should live my life each and everyday not just on a day called Thanksgiving. Why do I need a holiday to focus on what He has given me? I should focus everyday on Him and praise and give thanks to Him for what He has done in my life.

The picture posted here are of boys I think I could really learn from when it comes to giving thanks. See in this picture these boys definitely look joyful as they sing, clap and give praise. What boggles my mind is what they are giving thanks for. See they had just gotten done walking around the desert for about 2 hours in the midday sun gathering firewood so that they could cook their meals. Now do I give thanks for the fact that I can turn the dial on my stove and have heat to boil water or push a button to turn on the stove? I know for a fact that I don’t. Yet these boys are praising him through a song over firewood to cook their meals. This picture has definitely challenged me over the years.

I am currently sitting and thinking about this and what comes to my mind is that I think I really worry more than I give thanks. This is really kind of sad when I think what the bible says. See this morning I read Matt. 6. In reading this I sat and just kind of meditated on it. I started to think if I am really thankful for all He has done for me or all He has given me would I really be worrying? With this in mind I think I am going to do something a little different this Thanksgiving. I am going to make a list, a list of everything I am thankful for. I am going to lay it all out for myself to see. This will be an ever growing list as the weekend goes and I am hoping that it will make me truly realize what I have in front of me each and everyday and really how truly blessed I am.

"Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. .......... Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Sacrifice?

A couple of weeks ago at church they talked about sacrifice. This stirred some thoughts in my head and actually really got me mind going. Now this isn’t a new topic for me I guess and that is what was a little more difficult. See upon returning from Ethiopia in 2008 this is something that I really struggled with and have over the past year or more. The reason for this struggle and thought process is that I guess I feel that I don’t really fully understand what a sacrifice is. Now yes I understand the whole sacrifice in the Old Testament but what I struggle with is sacrificial giving. I can never fully match that of the Lord giving His Son to die for me and much, much more.

I will try to explain my thoughts here.
These verses are what really sticks out in my mind is 2Cor 8: 12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality.

Now I get the whole give eagerly and fully agree with that with out a doubt but this is where I struggle.

See the man to the left in this picture? I believe this is a man of God who understands this definition of sacrifice way more than I do and what really makes me think I don’t understand is verse 13 tied to what I have seen in this man.
So first off I will tell you, his name is Iticha and a missionary to Junior High boys and girls in the Borana/Sidamo region of Ethiopia. In 2007 on our trip stayed where he was working. He was not only a gracious host and servant to us in every way. In fact I believe he and his wife played a role in serving us meals and carrying us water multiple days. Then to add to that he brought us all gifts? Not just any gifts though, gifts that pertained to who we were and what he had seen in us or knew we wanted. Here I was there to serve them and help build a hostel for them in a region in which they may have an income of 1 US dollar a day and he is giving us gifts.

Now I return to Ethiopia the following year to serve again and this amazing man invites us into house small living quarters for him and his family and goes on to serve us this huge meal with meat, veggies and coffee afterwards. It was way above and beyond anything I could ever have anticipated.

The thing is it wasn’t just him that did this for us that week. Each one of the missionaries that we visited or came in contact with did something for us this past year. From making us coffee in their home, to coffee, pop and an ethnic treat called Kolo (an Ethiopian version of trail mix) . We were treated amazingly well, in this country by those we went to serve along side.

So here is my thought process and where it goes. Some people in developing countries including Ethiopia and many more may be lucky to have 1 meal a day. Yet I sit here and have 3 full meals plus much more. That doesn’t even touch the fact that I have a car, a house and way more clothes than I know what to do with. Yet they maybe have 2 sets of clothing if they are lucky and the one is their Sunday best. The whole view is just earth shaking to me. So where do I draw the line? Where is that equality? What is enough and what do I feel I need to give up to really be living sacrificially? People range from all different ends of them spectrum on what is really a sacrifice and I am just trying to figure out what this really means to me and put it into action.

I will give you a little something more I have been chewing on for at least a year now.
The lyrics to the chorus of Todd Agnew’s Mercy in Me
And I don’t know what You want
What You see in my life
And I don’t know what You mean
How You could be glorified
And I’m not to sure about this idea of sacrifice
What You mean by mercy, mercy in me
Your mercy in me

A Challenge within me.

This past few weeks have been pretty crazy with everything going on as of late but this week I was away on business and had a chance to do some extra reading and thinking.
On Friday I was trying to spend sometime preparing my heart for the World Vision Experience going on at Colonial Church in Edina, MN. Check it out here www.wvexperience.org . In doing this I came across a verse that definitely got me thinking about who I am in Christ and what the Lord is doing in me (1John 3:18). I have included the surrounding verses a little more context and thought.
1 John 3: 16This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. 17If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.

These verses really got me thinking because of how things in the past week have really come together and a lot of them can all be tied in some way to these verses.
First off in v16 I had heard this week or read this week somewhere the question possed would I be willing to lay down my life for one of my friends? This could be anyone from a good friend to an acquaintance. The sad thing here for me is that I don’t know that I could say a resounding yes right away without thinking about it. In my heart I would want this to be an immediate yes no matter what but instead it took some time for me to think and evaluate and really why would one friend be any different than the other. Jesus didn’t think of one person better than another. I am a sinner and no different than a person who has committed any other sin no matter what it is.
v17. is something that has been on my mind for years and is always good to be reminded off.
V18. Is the verse that got me to this section and this is why. I have been reading the book True North by Bill George as of late and Tuesday on my flight to Maryland I read this. “Think of your life like a house, with a bedroom for your personal life, a study for your professional life, a family room for your family, and a living room to share with your friends. Can you knock down the walls between these rooms and be the same person in each of them?” Now this to me ties directly to verse 18 how I was thinking these past days. Could I really knock down the walls and if I did am I the same person at work as I am at say Bible Study, hanging out with my Christian friends, at church or with my immediate family or extended family. Do I say one thing and do another? Do my actions represent who I say I am? Is this a real life a life of integrity focused on the Lord that I lead? I guess I just want to be able to answer all these questions in a way that is pleasing to the Lord without one ounce of hesitation.