30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day #55: My Most Valuable Christmas Present

Years ago, Kelly and I began a Christmas tradition: each year (or at least, most years) we have given a gift to ourselves—a “Family Christmas present.” The first was a stereo system we purchased while in Germany in 1988—I wrote about that in an earlier post (click HERE to read that post). Other gifts through the years have included a Foosball table, a trampoline, and many more that I cannot remember at the moment. One of our boys’ friends was heard to comment about the trampoline: “That’s my favorite your Christmas present!” That comment has stuck and has traveled with us all the years since.

Thinking about my “favorite” Christmas present is a short thought process. I have received many, many gifts from many people who have loved be, and whom I have loved, well. These gifts have been thoughtful, humorous, practical, frivolous, and more. Some have been handmade or homemade. Others have been purchased at considerable expense. I have and do appreciate each one of them, both for the gift itself and even more so for the giver and the love demonstrated toward me in the act of selecting, making or purchasing, wrapping, addressing, and presenting the gift to me.

The greatest of them all, however, is the first of them all, and the inspiration for every gift since. It’s described beautifully in the words found in the Gospel according to John, chapter 3 and verse 16: “For God so loved the world [including Dennis Ashley] that He gave His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever [still including Dennis Ashley] believeth in Him [I do! I do!] should not perish [yay!] but have everlasting life [hallelujah!].”

Thank You, Loving Heavenly Father, for this Gift of love, freely given to and for me, and to and for the whole world. Oh, that everyone would believe, and have everlasting life as Your gift, freely given and freely received.

To you, reader, if there are any, I say: please, if you have not already, accept the gift God is presenting to you. It is not yours until you receive it, but it does have your name on it!
Merry Christmas!

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 54 (Christmas Eve): the Incarnation

Christmas Eve…those words carry a special thrill and meaning all of their own. As a child, of course, they meant mainly one thing…”Santa Claus Is Comin’ Tonight!” Last minute shopping, wrapping, baking…these things were all part of my Christmas Eve experiences, whether personally or watching my parents and others frantically working to get everything done.

In my adult years, while all of those things still fill my Christmas Eve experiences, the most important feature of my Christmas Eve is the church service. The candlelight, the music, the full sanctuary, the “passing the light” candle ceremony, singing “Silent Night”—these are the things that mean the most to me now.

On this Christmas Eve, I want to say “Thank You” to God for this miracle: the Incarnation. “The Word [God the Son] was made Flesh [Jesus the infant] and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14, Authorized Version, with emphasis and clarifications added.) It was unexpected. It was unheard of and unlooked for. It was a complete surprise, and some people are just now getting it. It was perfect.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 45: The Artistry of God

I have been to a lot of places and I have seen a lot of things. However, there are many, many more places I have not yet been, and many, many, many more things I have not yet seen. I know this: the places I have been, and the things I have seen, are spectacular! I have seen the water crashing over Niagara Falls—from both the United States' and the Canadian sides. (The view is better from the Canadian side!) I have seen the coral reefs off Key West in Florida. I have been in the mountains of Bavaria, and in the Shawangunk mountains here in the mid-Hudson River valley. 

Today I was talking with a friend about the complexity of the human body's chemistry—magnificent and delicately balanced, and that is but one of the several systems in the human body that are designed (yes, designed!) to work in harmony with one another. I have held, and recently, a tiny example of the human race, and observed the tiny fingernails, little bigger than a single scale on the side of a sunfish (I almost said trout, but we both know better than that, don't we?) A miniature person, like his daddy in nearly every detail, yet tiny in comparison. (That'll change, of course.)

The beauty of the Green Mountains of Vermont was in my mind several days ago as I drove north up U.S. Route 7 from Bennington toward Rutland. Though the mountains are gray now in the late fall/early winter, I could still imagine the beauty of those mountains just weeks earlier when all of those now naked trees would have been aglow with the yellows, reds and oranges of fall foliage.

There is an admittedly small but nonetheless fascinating waterfall in my neighborhood. After a heavy rain I enjoy standing on the bridge that binds the two banks of the Wallkill River together on Route 52 in Walden and looking 50 yards upstream at that crazy tangle of water raging over the rocks of that cascade. It is hypnotic to me. I have walked along the beaches of Cape Cod, of Atlantic City, of Virginia Beach and Daytona Beach and enjoyed the endless repetition and the limitless variations of the surf washing along the sand and rocks.

I have watched many sunrises, and even more sunsets, and marveled at the palette of colors that God has at His fingertips. I have stood amazed at the power and terrible beauty of a thunder-and-lightning storm, and have watched through the windows at the silent snowfall buries the world beneath a thick carpet of snow.

All of these things, and many more beside, speak to me of the incredible artistry of God, and the beauty which He lavishes on all that He has wrought. Whether it is the steep passes and deep valleys of the Appalachian Mountains through West Virginia, or the mile after mile of flatland in Indiana and Illinois, it is majestic and inspiring. For me, everything that God has made sings of the greatness of our God—and even the music of "How Great Is Our God" and "How Great Thou Art" rolls through by mind and soul as I think about it.

Thank You, O God, for the beauty and majesty of this Creation of Yours. Thank You for making it, and thank You for sharing some of it with me for a little while. Maybe, one day, You can show me around the rest of it—You know—the parts I haven't seen yet. That would be GREAT!

And, oh yeah, God. I don't tell you enough, but I really love You, too.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 26: The Holy Spirit’s Ministry

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Today I am expressing my thanks for the ongoing ministry of God the Holy Spirit in my life.

He, the Person of the Holy Spirit, indwells me, He convicts me of sin, He brings to my remembrance those things which I have learned, read, and heard others say—most especially, He causes me to remember the words of Scripture that I have memorized since my childhood.

The Holy Spirit sensitizes me to my areas of vulnerability to temptation, and, if I let Him, will show me how to avoid sinning when I am tempted. When I give Him room, He will fill me, guide me, lead me, enable me, and empower me to do the will of God.

When I don’t know how to pray, or cannot find words to put my feelings and desire into prayer, He will pray for me, with groanings incomprehensible to me but clearly heard and understood by God my Heavenly Father.

He, the Holy Spirit, is actively working out God’s plan in my life to accomplish the work of making me like Jesus Christ. The work goes best when I cooperate, but even when I resist, the Holy Spirit does not quit on me.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, my Comforter, my Counselor, and my Friend.

30 Days of Thanksgiving, Day 25: God's Faithful Provision

Today, the day AFTER Thanksgiving here, I am thankful for God faithfully providing for my needs, as He promised to do, and as He has done for me all the days of my life. He has been providing for the needs of His people since the Garden of Eden.

As I child I learned this song, and it plays on my mind's "iPod" frequently (the recording is of poor quality, and the artist performing it is amateurish and "pitchy", but the song is a good one even so):

"He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
The wealth in every mine;
He owns the rivers and the rocks and rills,
The sun and stars that shine;
Wonderful riches, more than tongue can tell,
He is my Father--so they're mine as well!
He owns the cattle on a thousand hills,
I know that He will care for me!"

Jesus taught that God counts us as more valuable than the birds of the air, and if He feeds them, He's sure to take care of us! Likewise, the lilies of the field. (Matthew 6:25-34). He goes on to assure us that our Father in heaven gives good gifts to those who ask Him (Matthew 7:11)

The Apostle Paul both knew and expressed this confidence in God in a most unmistakeable way. In his letter to Christians living in and around Philippi, he wrote "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength" and "my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:13, 19). Now I realize that many people say that the Bible is "open to interpretation" and "hard and mysterious to understand" but it is nearly impossible to mistake or misunderstand Paul's words here. 

Now, lest I be accused of being "preachy" let me just say this and be done: these are the promises of God that give me confidence in the ongoing care of and provision for me by my Heavenly Father. Though He does not need to impress me or to prove anything to me, nevertheless: I am impressed and He has proven Himself both powerful and faithful.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for taking care of me and providing for my needs, and even many of the things in life that I want, but don't need.