FROM PASTOR DAN

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, we need to seriously look at our attitude about being thankful for the things that God has allowed us to have. One might say, “I have worked hard for what I have.” We must remember that God has blessed us so that He might be exalted. We were reminded this past Sunday from Daniel chapter 4; we must strive to build God’s Kingdom and not a kingdom for ourselves. 

Several years ago, my family had the privilege of having an exchange student from Finland in our home during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. As we learned about his culture and he learned about ours, he made a comment that really made me think. He said, “You Americans are spoiled.” At that time, all three of my kids were living at home. He reminded me that there were five people in my family, and we had five vehicles in our driveway. He said there were nine in his family and they shared one vehicle. I never considered myself as spoiled, but it made me think about how God had blessed us.  

This past summer, I had the privilege of traveling to the country of Ukraine to be part of a mission team. I was amazed as I talked with the people of that country about how grateful they were to God for the freedom they have as a free country. They were grateful because just a few years earlier they were under communist control. Their gratitude was so obvious in their lives because they knew what it was like to not be free. As I experienced this, it reminded me once again of how spoiled we really are and how my attitude needed to reflect gratitude for the things God has blessed us with. 

During this Thanksgiving season, may we be reminded of the blessings that God has given each one of us.  Don’t have the attitude of, ‘look what I have done,’ but let’s be truly grateful for the blessings that God has allowed us to enjoy. We must remember, like Nebuchadnezzar did, that we are not building our kingdom but HIS Kingdom.

Remember….Sunday is My Hope Sunday. Bring someone with you to worship and Bible Study.

Pastor Dan

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FOCUSED

One of the casualties of aging to which I find myself a victim is the dimming of the eyes.  Ecclesiastes 12 counsels the young person to remember God, their Creator, in their youth before the aging process takes over and various faculties, as listed in verses 1-7, are diminished.

Clear eyesight when we are young may be something we take for granted. However, as we age the realization that our vision is not as sharp as it once was takes hold. “Readers” become standard fare for all intricate tasks. Our once keen laser sharp focus is now blurry and in need of help to restore its youthfulness. That restoration is found through glasses or some sort of rejuvenating surgery. Especially in the early stages of this degenerative eye problem we may be able to fake it and get by, but eventually we must relent and do something to correct the problem.

There is a parallel between physical and spiritual vision. “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” was written in the early 20th century. The hymn writer, Helen Lemmel, was strongly influenced by the artist and later little-known missionary, Lilias Trotter. Miss Trotter started off as an aspiring artist but early on felt a call from God to reach the lost. She began her ministry by rescuing prostitutes from the streets of London. Later she went to Africa, without missionary funding, and served for over forty years. While there she penned a poem that would greatly influence the writing of the hymn “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.”  The poem was entitled “Focused: A Story and Song.” 

The poem centers around focusing one’s attentions fully and completely upon God. She writes that Satan knows that if a person uses all their powers of concentration on being led by God’s Spirit, they will have a great intensity and impact upon those to whom they are called to minister. Lilias Trotter, writing in a more formal use of the English language than we are accustomed, shares some timeless insights which could very easily have been written today but with a different accent. She writes: “Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen good harmless worlds at once—art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the ‘good’ hiding the ‘best’ even more effectually than it could be hidden downright frivolity with its smothered heartache at its own emptiness.”

The “good” hiding the “best” leads us to emptiness.  Could this be true of us today especially as American Christians? Have we sought the “good” while missing the “best”? The chorus of the hymn, which we will be singing in worship this Sunday, says it best.

                Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face,                                                                                                                                        And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Keith Pate

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