Posted 11/25/2008 - 1:31pm by pastorisaac
Hello Basileans near and far,
With Thanksgiving approaching, I thought it would be nice to start a Thanksgiving Blog and hopefully, everyone can comment on it. Why don't we share what/who we're thankful for? The Bible commands us to give thanks. And when we do it in community like this, I think we can really encourage one another. So let's share together the things we're thankful for. OK, I'll start...
I'm thankful for my wife, son, and soon to be born baby. LIfe is so precious. We were reminded of that in a big way when we lost Ethan earlier this year. Just being alive is such a gift, and to be alive with loved ones around you is super special. So I'm truly thankful for life, and especially the life of my family.
So please join in on this litany of Thanksgiving.
And of course, I'm thankful for Basilea!
Love,
Pastor Isaac
I too am thankful for my family (Mom, Dad, Grandmother, and Sister)! Each and every one of them has given me plenty of gifts, support, and love. Yet I say "thank you" more often to the little things that my friends do for me (not saying that "I'm not thankful for those things") ex: giving me a ride somewhere; than I say thank you to my mom whom sacrifices soo many things just to buy me what my selfishness desires. Thanksgiving day is truly humbling and I thank the Lord over all things for putting these four people into my life. Root: God. Without Him it would be really hard to think of things that I'm thankful for because I wouldn't even be here this very moment typing at 2:49 AM haha
HAPPY THANKSGIVING BASILEA!!
Love,
Bryan Yangster.
Dear Basilea -
I realized something the other day as I was contemplating the meaning of Thanksgiving. For most people, Thanksgiving is a once a year holiday when we take time out of our busy schedules to get together with family to eat turkey and discuss religion, politics and family matters. However, people who do not know Christ really have no reason to be thankful. Of course, they may be thankful for the big things in life, like getting a government bailout or a second chance at life after a near-death experience. But most people often don't feel a need to be thankful because their life on earth is viewed as a right, and not as a gift. And why shouldn't they feel that way? After all, they worked hard to earn a good paying profession, buy a nice house, and raise a good family.
However, the Bible commands Christians to give thanks in ALL circumstances, including the bad ones. Our lives should be viewed as a gift from God and not as a right. After all, was it our choice to be born into this world, or was it God's? When we realize how little control over life we really do NOT have, that humbles us to realize that God can do anything He wants with people. Just as easily as He gives, He can just as easily take it away, as I learned after losing my last job!
Well, with that said, I am thankful for a lot of things that God has provided for me. To start, I am thankful for my immediate family (father, mother, brother, grandmother, aunts & uncles, sister, brother-in-law, nephew, niece). I am very thankful they are all Christians! Also, I am thankful for good health and how God has sustained me over these past 33 years of my life. I'm thankful for our Basilea family and Pastor Isaac, Sarah SMN, and Shane and for their dedication to serving our ministry. I'm thankful that I'm able to live in a nice house and go to bed every night with food in my stomach, clothes on my back and a roof over my head. (I am astounded to hear how so many middle-class families have become homeless because they lost their jobs!) I'm thankful for my non-Christian friends and have opportunities to be a witness to them everytime I see them. I'm thankful that although I am not working God is sustaining me financially during these difficult times. I'm thankful for a chance to have gone to college, and my parents paying for that. I'm thankful for the planet Earth that God has made so beautifully so that we can live in it, although humans are destroying it everyday. Finally I am thankful for a relationship with Jesus Christ, because even if I still don't have anything in this life, I still have an eternal security that awaits me in my next life! I guess I can go on, but this covers the big ones.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Well said Bryan and Martin (Is that you Martin?)
This was the thought I had the other day during one of my quiet times. If I were to lose my memory, would I still be a Christian? And while thinking about it, I came up with this. If I were to lose everything that makes me Peter, I would hope that I still love God. So of course I am thankful for my family, Basilea, and so on, but I am truly thankful that God chose me to know. Just a thought I would share with you guys.
If I had to lose it all, I would want to still love God and that is what I am thankful for.
I feel like I'm kinda late on this one but I'll still give it a go.
I'm thankful for God's grace that allows me to stand before him no matter what I said or done. I'm thankful for my mouth although I often use it to complain. I'm thankful for my ear although I often refrain from listening to what God has to say. I'm thankful for my eyes although I often turn away and look at anything but God. And I'm thankful for my nose that lets me smell my mother's cookinn :D
I thank God for all the memories I had in NJ. I thank God for being who He is and will always be.
Thanks Daddy!