Signs Your Overdoing Thanksgiving

1. Hundreds of volunteers have started to stack sandbags around you.
   
2. Doctor tells you your weight would be perfect for a man 17 feet. tall.
   
3. You are responsible for a slight but measurable shift in the. earth's axis.
   
4. You spill more food on you than the local soup kitchen dispenses.
   
5. Paramedics bring in the Jaws of Life to pry you out of the EZ-Boy.
   
6. Your after dinner moans are loud enough to signal Dr. Kevorkian.
   
7. The "Gravy Boat" your wife set out was a real 12' john boat!
   
8. The potatoes you used set off another famine in Ireland.
   
9. Your "Big Elvis Super-Belt" won't even go around your waist.
   
10. You receive a Sumo Wrestler application in your e-mail.
    
11. You set off 3 earthquake seismographs on your morning jog Friday.
    
12. Pricking your finger for cholesterol screening only yielded gravy.
    
13. You have 5 TV sets side-by-side to catch all the football games.
    
14. That rash on your stomach turns out to be steering wheel burn.
    
15. Your wife wears a life jacket at night in your water bed.
    
16. Representatives from the Butterball Hall of Fame called twice.
    
17. You consider gluttony as your patriotic duty.
    
18. It looks like the left-overs are gonna last until Christmas.
    
19. Your arms are too short to reach the keyboard & delete this.
    
20. A guest quotes a Biblical passage from "The Feeding of the 5000."

'Twas The NIght Of Thanksgiving

'Twas the night of Thanksgiving - I couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep
The leftovers beckoned --- The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen, Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground !!

I crashed through the ceiling. Floating into the sky...
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie,
But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees ...
HAPPY EATING TO ALL! PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE!

Changing Your Story

Here is a story, that I heard many years ago.

A young girl is watching her mother prepare a ham for Thanksgiving. Before she puts the ham into the pan, she cuts about six inches off of the end of it, and throws it away. The daughter asks the mother why she cuts the end off the ham. She replies; I'm not sure, but that is how my mother did it.

So, knowing that all the family is gathered in one place, she approaches her grandmother. She asks her grandmother why she cut the end off the ham, before preparing it. Her grandmother replies; I'm not sure, but that was how my mother did it.

In one final attempt, the young lady approaches her great grandmother. She asks why she cut the end of the ham, before cooking it. Her great grandmother replies; We only had one pan to cook with in our day. I had to cut the ham, so it would fit in the only pan we had.

An unknown writer said; You can't do much about your ancestors, but you can influence your descendants enormously.  Some did not grow up in a Christian home. Their parents did not grow up in a Christian home. And their parents did not grow up in a Christian home. For a multitude of reasons why this is the case for many; You had no control over that. But, here is what you do have control over: "...but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.

Would you change your story this Thanksgiving, and serve the Lord?

A Sacrifice Of Thanksgiving

Psalm 50:23 "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me."

 

What do you do when your life is going south?  What do you do when it is “THANKSGIVING” and you have just lost a loved one, or your job, or your marriage?  Surely you cannot be expected to give thanks can you?

 

Sometimes thanksgiving is a sacrifice.  Sometimes we must thank God through clenched teeth and chocked back tears.  Thanksgiving in the midst of a terrible storm brings tremendous joy to His heart.  It shows the Lord that we really trust Him regardless of the adverse circumstances we are facing. 

 

Perhaps you are one this year who is having trouble finding good in your life.  Look no further than Jesus.  He never changes.  Despite everything you might be facing, you can rejoice in Him.  You can give thanks for Him and His love and care for you.  You can give thanks that He promised to work all things together for good. 

Train yourself to give thanks in everything.  Remember a sacrifice of thanksgiving brings honor to the Lord.  Thank Him for that trial you are facing.  Thank Him for that sorrow.  He will use your thanks for His glory and your ultimate good!

Thanksgiving 1

Colossians 2:6, 7 "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."   

Abounding in grumbling may be the more accurate phrase to describe of the world's disposition of late. We’ve all grumbled about the weather, traffic, leaves, the terrorists attacks and a myriad of other things. None of this grumbling, however, has been constructive. And, most importantly, it’s been sinful, because grumbling can't change anything.

To help combat this steady bombardment of grumbling get your family together for a time of thanksgiving. You’ve probably practiced this exercise many times as well: go from person-to-person and highlight things you’re thankful for (it’s tough to grumble when you pause to consider the many blessings in your life).
 
All will voice gratitude for God generally, but most will fail to highlight specific attributes of God that cause them to “abound in thanksgiving" to Him. Ask yourself this question: “What is it about God that I am most grateful for?”

Maybe it's the fact of His providence—the fact that He orchestrates everything in my life for His glory and my good. It’s the promise of Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Indeed, all of our circumstances God uses as a means of our sanctification. We began to abound in thanksgiving as we visualize God as the great conductor over our circumstances, using them as an instrument for our growth in grace.
 
This Thanksgiving holiday I want my family to be “abounding in thanksgiving.” And for this to happen I know being thankful for God in a merely general sense will not suffice. We'll need to meditate on some particular glories of our great God; not least of which is His sweet providence over our lives. For this I am most grateful.

Take a moment this Thanksgiving and ask yourself, “What specific attribute of God am I grateful for?” Perhaps you’ll recall His love or mercy or grace or forgiveness or patience or wrath or providence. Challenge your mind to meditate on, and prayerfully consider, some particular glory of God as a means of abounding in thanksgiving

What Is A Veteran?

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them, a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking. What is a vet?

-A vet is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

-A vet is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th Parallel.

-A vet is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

-A vet is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back at all.

-A vet is the drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account punks and gang members into marines, airmen, sailors, soldiers and coast guardsmen, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

-A vet is the parade-riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

-A vet is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

-A vet is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

-A vet is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

-A vet is an ordinary and yet extraordinary human being, a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

-A vet is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more that the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say, "Thank You." That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Again, two little words that mean a lot to any Veteran: "THANK YOU."

John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

What KIds Say About Love

1. "Love is that first feeling you feel before all the bad stuff gets in the way."
   
2. "When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
   
3. "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth."
   
4. "Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
   
5. "Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
   
6. "Love is when someone hurts you. And you get so mad but you don't yell at them because you know it would hurt their feelings."
   
7. "Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
   
8. "Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
   
9. "Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
   
10. "When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you're scared they won't love you anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, they love you even more."
    
11. "Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it every day."
    
12. "Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
    
13. "During my piano recital, I was on a stage and scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore."
    
14. "My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
    
15. "Love is when mommy gives daddy the best piece of chicken."
    
16. "Love is when mommy sees daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
    
17. "Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
    
18. "You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."