Thanksgiving

 Sing to the LORD with grateful praise;
   make music to our God on the harp.

 He covers the sky with clouds;
   he supplies the earth with rain
   and makes grass grow on the hills.
He provides food for the cattle
   and for the young ravens when they call. - Psalm 147:7-9

Today’s Reading: Psalms 146-147; 1 Corinthians 15:1-28

Thanksgiving was always a trying time for me.

I grew up going back and forth between my Mom’s and Dad’s houses each week. But the holidays were different. On Thanksgiving (just like Christmas) I used to switch mid day. Just as I had woken up and gotten settled at one house, soon enough, there was a ring at the doorbell signaling that it was time to go. Me and my sister had to pack up our things and leave one parent for the other, never getting to share the entirety of any holiday in one household.

When I used to look back on what became “normal” for me I used to get frustrated. It bothered me that I never knew the stability of sharing any special day with my whole family at one dinner table. But now I look at it very differently.

Today, as I go on my Thanksgiving journey, I realize just how amazingly blessed I am. I am going to share this wonderful day of thanks twice with two sets of parents that love me unconditionally. Many people in this world cannot say the same for even one set of parents or even a single parent for that matter. When I think about how I used to be frustrated by what I saw as a burden, I just feel an immense sense of gratitude that life has gotten me to a point where I can see the best in life’s situations.

Everyone is dealt different cards in the game of life. What we must never forget is the most important rule to winning this game. We must always keep our minds and hearts focused on what is good. We must search out life’s treasures all around us; because even though it may not seem like it, they are there.

I honestly believe that this type of attitude is a decision that everyone can make. I’m sure that many folks will point to the most extreme situations in life and say that I am wrong and I humbly submit that I can only speak from my perspective. I believe that the more we decide to focus on the glass being half full, the faster that glass starts to fill up until it overflows.

There are many things in life that are out of our control. But one of the things that we do have a measure of control over is our attitude. Several years ago I realized this for myself. I used to be one of those half empty dudes. When I decided to make that shift, when I decided to seek out the treasures and blessings already abundant in my life I was better able to see the new ones that were on the horizon.

So let’s use this Thanksgiving as an opportunity to really give thanks. Take an inventory of your life and really try to find the wonderful blessings that you may have missed. Maybe it is an unappreciated friend or family member. Or perhaps it was a new opportunity this year. No matter who you are I believe that you have at least one thing to be thankful for.

And when you are sitting at your dinner table today; whether it is with family or friends or at a soup kitchen because you had nowhere else to go, try to use this meal as an opportunity to take a new step in the right direction.

Let today be the first of many days that you give thanks for what life has brought you. I know that I will; and I hope that very soon this act of giving thanks will bring abundant joy to your life in ways that you could never have imagined. 

My Confession of Faith

Today’s Reading: Psalms 126-128; 1 Corinthians 10:19-33

I read Psalm 128 today and realized that it clearly articulates a lot of what I want for my life. This has become my confession of faith… the scripture I can use to speak my ideal future into existence.

Words are powerful. One of the most important parts of the creation story to me is that God spoke the universe into existence. He said “let there be light”, and there it was. In the book of John, Jesus is described as being the Word of God made flesh.

Most of us throw around our words carelessly but this is dangerous. The more that we speak with negativity the more negativity we will invite into our lives. Similarly, the more positively we speak the more positivity we will speak into our lives.

What do you want for your life? Who do you want to be? The first step toward being whom and where you want to be is to say it.

Choose your words wisely.

Psalm 128

1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
   who walk in obedience to him.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;
   blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
   within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
   around your table.
4 Yes, this will be the blessing
   for the man who fears the LORD.

5 May the LORD bless you from Zion;
   may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
   all the days of your life.
6 May you live to see your children’s children—
   peace be on Israel.

The World Is Yours

Jesus' brothers said to him, "You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do. No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

Therefore Jesus told them, "The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil. You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come." Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. – John 7:3-9

Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 13-15; John 7:1-27

Good gracious… Even his brothers were hating on him!

One thing that I noticed here is that Jesus worked on his time, not on anyone else’s time. His brothers try to bait him into going to Judea and perform miracles to prove that he was who he said he was.

But of course this wasn’t the real reason. They wanted him to go to Judea so that he could publicly fail or publicly succeed and give them the proof that they needed in order to believe.

They wanted him to go for their own selfish reasons, not for the greater good or to benefit their brother Jesus.

I come from a family full of advanced degrees. My dad is a nuclear engineer, my mom is a psychologist, my sister and several others are lawyers. I have many friends who are similarly educated as well. I am very proud of my friends and family and all of the things that they have accomplished.

But when it came time for me to graduate college I didn’t know what I wanted to do next. I saw many paths but none seemed right to me. So instead of jumping into grad school I decided to find a job. This was definitely scary because I always saw myself as someone who would do what the others around me had done. You finish high school, finish college, get an advanced degree and get PAID.

But that wasn’t the plan for me.

Since graduating school I have had many people tell me what I ought to do and for the most part it does seem to come from a place of love. But I am finally starting to realize the importance of owning my own path.

As well meaning as folks might be, me and God are the only people who have been with me from day one, and will be there until the last day.

If I allow myself to live life on other people’s terms then odds are I won’t be doing God’s or my will for my life.

That is a quick path to unhappiness.

So, yes, we should listen to our loved ones and mentors when they have advice for us; however, in the end we must remember that the decision is ours.

And for those that believe… holler at God too, I’m sure that He has the best advice of all and has the power to make it happen.

Do you… the world is yours.

Ivory Avenue

“I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” John 5:30

Today’s Reading: 1 Chronicles 1-3; John 5:25-47

I did not feel like going to church on Saturday.

My dad’s church, Simi Valley Christian Center, is in Simi Valley. This is forty miles away from where I live in Culver City. If that weren’t enough, it is on Saturday evenings at 6pm! It makes sense though given that it is a new church and the kinds of folks that attend (the blended family is one of his ministry focuses and it is much easier to get your kids together at 6pm than Sunday morning).

But, it’s rough on your boy.

The last several Saturdays I have gotten in my car and started to head down there but ridiculous traffic always discouraged me. Plus, I’ve got things to do on Saturdays and it kinda breaks up the flow.

So I wasn’t feelin’ going AT ALL and I had almost decided that I wouldn’t go when I was talking to my girlfriend. She asked if I was going to go and I hesitated… to which she responded “didn’t you tell me that it’s moments like these, when you don’t want to do something, that you have to do it!?”

Drats…

So I get in my car and head down the road earlier than usual to make sure that I get there on time. Of course as is usually the case in such situations there was very little traffic so I end up getting there about a half hour early.

What am I going to do with all of that time?

Then it hit me… I haven’t gone by the old neighborhood in a long while. So, when I exited Tapo Canyon Rd I turned right instead of left and went by the house that I grew up in all the way through high school.

It was such a wonderful experience.

As I drove down these familiar streets all of these wonderful memories from my childhood welled up in me. I remembered riding bikes down Alamo with my sisters, going up and down the hilly sidewalks pretending that I was going a hundred miles an hour. I remembered riding down Galena to the shopping center. We used feast on 99 cent Whoppers during breaks from playing videogames on the game console displays in Target. I remember going to the comic book store with my friends waiting for the new releases to come out. We had fun trying to predict which new comics would be the next big thing. After missing horribly with Spawn we gave up that endeavor.

It was so much fun.

When I made the turn on to Galena and then the quick right on to Emerald the memory of the first time that my dad let me drive rushed back into the present. I was eight years old and could barely see over the steering wheel of our red 1988 Toyota Tercel but since I dared to ask he dared to let me try. I must have stalled at least three or four times trying to negotiate the stick shift around the one turn to our street, Ivory Avenue. But when it was all said and done I felt like a man.

Twenty years later, as I approached this same intersection in my own stick shift I marveled at how much has changed but also remains the same. The huge trees we used to climb in the island in the middle of the street were gone and replaced with smaller ones. Many of the homes had new garage doors and some different landscaping. But there was our old house still looking exactly the same.

It felt like coming home again.

Had I not been encouraged to go to church on this beautiful Saturday afternoon I wouldn’t have been reminded of how blessed I am. I am so blessed to have grown up in a place safe enough for kids to ride bikes and climb trees. I am so blessed to have a father who loves me and has always done his best to support me. I am so blessed to be able to drive back to my old neighborhood twenty years later as a young man with so much to look forward to in life.

I hope that one day my future kids will be able to do the same thing. I hope that they will be able to look back on their childhood with the same fondness. I hope that they will be able to come home, wherever that is, and remember a lifetime of memories of love shared with family and friends. I hope that they will have the relationship with me and my future wife that I have with my parents; one of loving guidance, respect, and joy.

I know this is possible and will happen if I remember to “seek not to please myself but him who sent me”.

I’m looking forward to it.

Question of the Day: What are some of your fond memories of childhood or any time in the past that makes your heart smile?

P.S. Oh yeah and church was GREAT. He talked about faith and the things that block it in our lives. Pops has heat… check him out.

Simi Valley Christian Center

4191 Cochran St

Simi Valley CA 93063

(at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church)