The Rest

What about the rest?

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One of the men, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” Luke 17:15-19

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How sad to think that only one out of the ten returned thanks to Jesus for the cleansing, the healing, the life-transformation that He gave to them. Yet, this is probably proportionate to the thanks I return to God.

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For all that God has done, does our thankfulness - our thanksgiving - fall far short? 

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For all that God is doing is our faith illustrated through our thanks - or lack thereof?

Blessed

I keep my hair short - in fact I shave my head every two weeks - mainly because I am going bald at a very rapid rate. 

I joke about my "baldness" and my kids often poke fun of my lack of hair. For me "bald" is inevitable and "balding" is my reality. 

Yet tonight, as I spent time shaving my head I felt the hair being cut and I watched the hair fall to the ground and I became aware that I do have hair. 

Strangely enough - as I continued shaving my head - I began to ponder. Why do I so often focus on my lack of hair instead of celebrating the hair that I still have left? The answer, perhaps, is because I do not have as much hair as  once did. Or, maybe it is because I do not have as much hair as others do. 

Often this same mindset creeps into our lives as we consider our wealth, our possessions, and all of our blessings. If left unchecked we let our mind - and our heart - focus on all the things that we don't have - or no longer have - instead of celebrating all the blessings that we have been given today. 

This evening - as the freshly trimmed hairs on my healthy head hit the cotton sheets around the soft pillow on my comfortable bed in the cool, secure home that I live in with my wonderful family - I will be sure to thank God for the blessings He has given me today. 

I Knew I Loved Her

October 2nd, 2001. It had started with a simple agreement to meet. But when I saw the beauty of the young woman walking toward me I was speechless. Unable to form a coherent sentence, I walked right past her and her friend. But, not wanting this to be the end, I turned and walked with them. From 7:00 to about 7:10 I was hopeless, no words were spoken, no glances exchanged, no chemistry was seen. But then, when a disabled veteran lost his pants, we made an instant connection.

It was on this hill, on the lawn of the Quads at Indiana State University that I fell in love with Kim. After walking around the campus for more than an hour, I walked her back to her dorm and we found our way to a picnic table on the lawn of the Quads. We found ourselves talking about anything and everything that night - and into the very early morning hours.

As I said, we made a connection the moment I first spoke to her, we developed a friendship as we walked through campus, but I knew that I loved her somewhere around 2:00 am on October 3rd.

As I reminisce about the night that I met and fell in love with my - now - wife, I thank God for His hand working in various ways. I am thankful that Kim agreed to meet me that night. I am thankful that a disabled was unable to get inside without our assistance. I am thankful that his pants fell to his knees giving me the opportunity to speak to Kim for the first time. I am thankful that Kim's roommate left us alone to walk through campus that night. I am thankful that there was a picnic table to sit at on the lawn of the Quads. I am thankful that Kim never invited me up to her dorm room that night. I am thankful that we never had an awkward moment of silence that night.

I can't say just how Kim felt about me, but I know that I fell in love with her that first night we met as we talked on the lawn of the Quads. And I've fallen in love with her countless times from that day forward. 

Our Family Gives Thanks

Tonight, as we sat down for our evening prayer, we stated what we were most thankful for this Thanksgiving;

Bennett is most thankful for God and for Jesus

Zion is most thankful that he is alive, for God, for our family, for his Kindle.

Addison is most thankful for family, me, house, food

Kim is most thankful for our family, for our health, for God, and for the freedom that we enjoy.

I am most thankful for God's blessings (including our health and wealth), for Jesus' love, and for our family members (and that we can be together).

A Thankful Perspective

A couple of things happened this last week that has brought me a new perspective:

Saturday: our youngest son was taken to the emergency room and we spent a total of five hour with him there as the doctor and nurses evaluated his condition.

• While at the hospital I was advised that the tire on our van was flat, soon finding that we had run over a nail.

Sunday: our youngest son was taken to the emergency room twice, then hospitalized overnight. 

• Both my wife and I stayed late into the night with our son in the hospital and stayed up until the early hours of the morning praying, worrying, and praying.
• My wife also spent the night and entire next day with him in the hospital, her absence was felt in a major way.

Monday: our oldest son woke up with a cold, he was unable to go to school.

• My wife and youngest are able to come home in the late afternoon but we are all exhausted from the previous days hospital visits.
• Our youngest wakes up at 3:30 a.m. and decides that he has enough sleep for the night.

Tuesday: our daughter woke up with a slight cold, we were sure she would be the next to get the full-blown virus. 

• Our oldest is still not able to go to school instead we decide to take him to the doctor, finding out that he has croup. 
• Our youngest has adopted a new sleeping schedule that does not include the hours of 3:00 to 6:00 a.m. (some of my favorite hours to sleep).

Friday: our car is unable (or unwilling) to start, the battery is dead.

• The new vehicle models completely lock up when the battery is dead, the trunk will not open, the key is locked in the ignition, and the transmission is locked in park.   
• We have inconveniently parked the car in front of the garage and are unable to get our van out.

Saturday: I threw my back out.

Now, given all of these things, some might think that our family had a right to be a bit tired or grumpy, or even to complain a few times. I might agree if it weren't for what happened on Thursday. On Thursday I had the opportunity to listen to a sermon from Gateway Church located in Caledonia, Ontario (not one of the typical podcasts that I listen to) on the topic of giving thanks to God. In this message they spoke  about the need to be thankful for the large and small gifts from God and introduced the concept; "1,000 to be thankful for". 

Not only did I grab a notebook on Thursday and begin to list some things that I am thankful for, I began sharing them with my family and church family, and I have continued, these last few days, to write more and more things that I have to be thankful for - gifts that God is bringing to me and to our family every day. 

And, through this process I have gained a new perspective, in marriage, in parenting, in pastoring, and in life. 

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. Colossians 4:2

Prayer of a Child

This past Wednesday evening we hosted a couple missionaries at our church for the evening. Prior to going to the church my wife and I invited them to come to our home for dinner. It was quite a blessing and encouragement to have them share with the church family and to spend time visiting with them. But, as much of a blessing as that was, it was not the most meaningful thing to me that evening.

On Wednesday evening storms raged in our community that caused many to take refuge in our basement and almost caused our evening to come to an early end due to tornado warnings. After the missionaries had left the church we sent them on their way from our home and then began to prepare our two oldest children for bed. As I knelt down with Addison, our five-year-old she began to pray;

"God is good, God is great, I thank you for the sleep we will get. Thank you God that we have a house, thank you God that we have a basement, thank you God that we have missionaries, thank you God that missionaries are our friends, thank you God that the big kids are our friends, thank you God for our beds, thank you God for storms, thank you God for keeping us safe through the storms, thank you God for letting us get sleep during the storms."

After our prayer time with the kids on Wednesday, I went back to the church to clean up. The storms came closer, the wind grew stronger, the thunder grew louder, and the lighting grew brighter. And as my wife sat in the living room she heard our daughter praying again, praying softly and then a bit louder, praying prayers of thanksgiving and prayers requesting safety. How wonderful it is when children pray. How pure it is when children pray. How we can all learn from children.

I make a lot of mistakes, but I thank God that my kids are learning to pray, that they are learning to thank Him for the little and big things in their lives, and that they are learning that they can trust Him. May God grant us the ability, the knowledge and wisdom to continue to teach and train our children in his ways so they grow in their admiration and trust of Him.