This is another guest blog post of sorts. Basically, I liked the post that Dr. Mike Glenn, former pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, wrote that I decided to share it with you. Here it is:

“The other day, my granddaughters were asking me why I hadn’t put up our family Christmas tree. “It’s not time yet,” I told them. “We have to have Thanksgiving first.”

‘Can’t we just skip Thanksgiving,’ they asked. I can’t blame them. They wanted to hurry up and get to presents under the tree along with all the Christmas candy and treats. Compared to all that, Thanksgiving is a little boring. After all, what do we do on Thanksgiving? We drive long distances and eat too much and then, we watch football on TV until we’re too tired to stay awake. Along the way, we trade stories with family and maybe, if we’re lucky, we can play a little touch football in the front yard. It’s pretty evident why most of us want to hurry up and get to Christmas.

What should we do on Thanksgiving? Well, we should give thanks. All of us should find a little time and space to thank God for all of His blessings during the previous year. We should remember that all of life is a gift. Every breath, every thought, every heartbeat is a gift from the Giver of Life Himself. We are always and forever in debt to His goodness.

Once, as Jesus was walking along the road, He was confronted by ten lepers who begged for Jesus to heal them. He told them to go show themselves to their priest and as they ran, they were healed. In the story, only one of the healed lepers returns to Jesus and says thanks. Here’s what makes that story interesting. When the man returns, Jesus tells him his faith has made him well.

Wait a minute? Weren’t all ten healed? Yes. Then why did Jesus say this man has been made well? What about the other nine? Is there a difference between being healed and being well?

Maybe. After all, there’s a difference between being forgiven and being restored. Being forgiven means we’re no longer responsible for repairing our transgression. Being restored means the relationship has been mended as it was before the transgression occurred.

Likewise, being healed means we’re no longer limited or held back by our woundedness. Being made well means we’re no longer held back and we’re celebrating a new level of understanding and commitment to Christ. The leper who returned rejoined his friends with a much deeper relationship with Jesus. He is, after all, the one who returned to speak to Jesus and the one who heard Jesus speak to him.

The others were healed. He was made well.

Giving thanks is hard. It puts us in a vulnerable position. We have to admit we’re receiving something we didn’t earn and don’t deserve. Being grateful means we are now obligated to respond to God’s goodness by being good ourselves – to God and each other. Maybe that’s why we want to skip Thanksgiving and move on to Christmas.

Thanksgiving is hard, but it’s only in thanksgiving that we’re made well – whole and complete. Skipping thanksgiving is more than just moving on to Christmas. It’s missing a vital element of life itself – the moment we get to talk to Jesus and hear Jesus talk to us.

There’s a difference between being healed and being well. Don’t miss it by skipping Thanksgiving.

The blog is a little shorter this week. I’ll give you a few minutes to be thankful. Be well. Be thankful. Happy Thanksgiving.”

This is a guest post from the late legendary Henri Nouwen:

“Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other as a gesture of hope.

In community we say: ‘Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs—but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when lived alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care.’

Community is like a large mosaic. Each little piece seems so insignificant. One piece is bright red, another cold blue or dull green, another warm purple, another sharp yellow, another shining gold. Some look precious, others ordinary. Some look valuable, others worthless. Some look gaudy, others delicate. We can do little with them as individual stones except compare them and judge their beauty and value. When, however, all these little stones are brought together in one big mosaic, portraying the face of Christ, who would ever question the importance of any one of them? If one of them, even the least spectacular one, is missing, the face is incomplete. Together in the one mosaic, each little stone is indispensable and makes a unique contribution to the glory of God. That’s community, a fellowship of little people who together make God visible in the world.”

“Contentment … has an internal quietness of heart that gladly submits to God in all circumstances” (Joni Eareckson Tada).

To be content in all things is the secret to joy and peace. To be content is a kind of nonviolent protest against the culture and everything it holds dear, which is always more, more, more, etc.

To be content is to be satisfied with everything God is and for everything God has shown you and done for you in the past and to know He will do it again.

To be content is to say with Job, “Yea though He slay me, still I will trust in Him.”

To be content is to read the last page of the Bible and know that everything’s going to be alright. It’s much easier to face the hard parts of the story when you already know there’s a happy ending.

“Contentment is the only real wealth” (Alfred Nobel).

I realized today that one mark of maturity in the life of faith is being able to celebrate when someone has received something that you don’t have and are waiting for. One example is a single person celebrating a happy couple holding hands. Or maybe it’s a couple with no children rejoicing with a couple who found out they are expecting.

This culture promotes competition and envy probably more than any other ever in history. At least it seems that way. Every single commercial and ad campaign seems to target buying a car or a shoe or a phone to impress your neighbors and friends. But to be genuinely content is to be decidedly counter-cultural in this day and age.

Being content also means you can authentically celebrate when someone gets a promotion and you’re still looking for a job. Or when someone has a spiritual breakthrough while you’re in a kind of dark night of the soul or a spiritually dry season.

As the old saying goes, the true mark of humility isn’t thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. It’s realizing that God’s plans are far bigger than just you and understanding that it involves a community rather than a collection of isolated individuals.

The deal is that in God’s community when one succeeds, we all succeeds When one falls down, we all hurt. When one laughs or weeps, we laugh or weep with him or her. We’re all connected by being part of one body with Jesus as the head.

Let’s celebrate each other as if we’re celebrating our own victories because they really are. We’re still in this together.

That’s my prayer for every single person reading this. That they’d know the hope of eternal life through Jesus that doesn’t begin after death but here and now. After all, no one is promised a next second, much less a tomorrow or next week or next month.

It’s not about a kind of get out of hell free card, but a get to know Jesus and experience the best life to the fullest right now kind of card. That’s what this salvation is all about, Charlie Brown. And it’s for anyone who asks and seeks and knocks and opens the door when Jesus is knocking. It’s for you.

I saw where the lady that taught me in kindergarten passed away recently at the ripe old age of 100. I believe that in her last days she had expressed a desire to leave this world and go home to Jesus. I think for her faith is now made sight. She’s reunited with all her loved ones who have gone on before her, but best of all she has seen Jesus face to face.

I wonder what the trip to heaven was like. Did she really have time to savor looking back at all she was leaving behind? Or did she gaze ahead to all that awaited her for the eternity to come? Maybe she was too overcome with joy to take anything else in.

I know that for those who have hope in Christ, what lies ahead is better than anything we leave behind. It will be like that first day of summer break after the last day of school has ended, multiplied by a million. It will be like that favorite part of your favorite song, but exponentially better. All the best moments of your life, all the best dreams you ever had, will have only been glimpses of the infinite joy that awaits.

I wonder if we will all be the same age as Jesus when He died and be in our peak physical shape, only without any of those earthly flaws or imperfections. We will truly and finally be our best selves as God created us before sin entered the world and marred everything.

The older I get, the more I can’t wait to be there. The more I want those I love to be there with me. The more I want everyone I meet to be there with me. What a truly glorious day that will be!

I was listening to another podcast episode of 1 Degree of Andy where Andy Chrisman was talking with songwriter Geron Davis. They both mentioned how lately a lot of worship music is primarily vertical in nature. Of course, that’s a good thing, but we also need music that emphasizes the horizontal aspect that deals with how we deal with each other.

It’s interesting that Geron pointed out that the verse in Revelation that speaks of how the believers overcame by the blood of the Lamb (vertical) and by the word of their testimony (horizontal). If you put the two together, you get a cross.

Of course, there should be music that celebrates God. That’s the purpose of music. But I also think that we need music from a faith perspective that deals with life issues and relationship issues and struggles that we all have. People need to know they’re not alone by hearing their stories told and sung by someone else.

The whole point of the Church, especially the gathering together part, is because we best worship and serve God in relation to each other. Each of us bring unique talents and giftings that complement and complete the others. Where I am weak, you are strong. Where you are weak, I am strong. We’re like individual broken pieces of colored glass that come together to form a beautiful stained glass window that shows Christ to the world.

I’m thankful that it’s not left up to me to figure out my path to spiritual maturity. I’m not left to walk the rest of this life alone. I have those who can encourage and challenge me, who call out the best in me and call me out on the less than best in me. Plus, we have a whole host of heavenly witnesses cheering us on.

Anyway, go check out the podcast 1 Degree of Andy if you’re a fan of CCM music from the golden era of the 70s through the early 2000s, especially the episode with Geron Davis. It’s great.