30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 43: the Conveniences of Modern Life

Some people enjoy camping in rustic settings, without improved campsites, electric hookups, bathhouses with plumbing, toilets, warm showers, etc. They sometimes call it "roughing it." Today, we see this as a novelty, and we sometimes put up with the inconveniences and discomforts for the sake of overcoming "adversity" and "hardship." My parents, my grandparents, and everyone who lived before them called this "roughing it" by another name. They called it "living." 

My mother was a teenager during World War II. She wrote in her diary during the war years about the day that their first telephone ( a "party line") was installed in their house. A generation later, when my siblings and I would go to visit Grandma and Grampy at the house where my Mom grew up, there was still an outhouse in the side yard, about 10 yards from the kitchen door. By that time (in the 60s), their home had "indoor plumbing" but the outhouse was still there, and still worked! In fact, after a two hour car ride in a densely packed family station wagon, with too much milk to drink before we left home, and a too-small juvenile bladder, that outhouse often proved to work perfectly!

As a boy growing up in church, we would get an occasional missionary prayer letter from one of our overseas missionaries. The news contained in the prayer letter might be several weeks old by the time we received it. Sharing information back then was, by today's standards, ridiculously slow.

With these thoughts in mind, I am writing today as a person who is truly thankful for the many conveniences and comforts of modern life that we enjoy and often take for granted. I have not one but two working "flush toilets" in my home (and, ironically, a "working" outhouse in the shed in our back yard!) We have cable-based telephone service and internet access, with more channels in regular and high definition on our televisions than I can even remember. We have fifteen (yes, 15!) different devices in our home that can access the internet, including computers, game consoles, and smart phones. We can communicate around the globe in seconds both in text, speech and even video. I have a device in my car that constantly queries the network of 22 geosynchronous navigation satellites in orbit, and advises me of my exact location on the planet, overlaid on a detailed street map so that I can find my way to just about anyplace in the United States that has an address.

We have two refrigerator/freezers in our home, and both are filled to one degree or another with fresh and frozen food. Additional food is waiting in the pantry cupboard. We have fresh drinkable water that doesn't have to be strained or boiled before drinking it. We have hot and cold running water in what seems an inexhaustible supply. We have a natural gas-fueled furnace that keeps our home at a comfortable temperature, and fans and window air conditioners to help keep the house reasonably cool in the oppressive heat of summer. We have an electric stove/oven to prepare food, and a microwave oven besides. An automatic dishwasher stands ready to simplify after-dinner cleanup. A washer and dryer have replaced the need to take the clothes down to the stream and beat the dirt out of them with rocks in the running water.

If we don't feel like cooking, we can use our telephone and order food to be prepared for us and delivered to our door. We can even read our bank card numbers over the phone when ordering and we don't even have to be bothered handling money to pay for the food.

I could go on for many more paragraphs about various comforts and conveniences that we all enjoy, but I think I've made my point. It's a great time to be alive on Planet Earth! There are a few disadvantages too, but that's not my topic today. Heavenly Father, thank You for the comforts and conveniences that make our lives so much easier today than the lives our parents, and their parents before them, lived. May they not make us soft and weak, but may we ever be thankful for these blessings.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 42: GoodNews!

Today in my Thankfulness post I want to go back to my early pattern of being thankful for particular people that God has brought into my life. This weekend we had the "good fortune" at my church to have the Christian/Gospel quartet "GoodNews" (click HERE to "LIKE" GoodNews on Facebook!) I have been a fan, and a friend, of this group and its members almost from the time when they first began singing together. This quartet, which includes a husband-wife team and two friends, has "it"—that indefinable gift that goes beyond the excellent technical performance of music, the blending of unique voices and carefully rehearsed harmonies, and slick, polished stage presentation. These things are important, no question. But GoodNews has something more, and above, all of that. You might call it "chemistry" or "charisma" or something else. I call it the active presence and power of the Holy Spirit that introduces into a concert performance something transcendant.

In any case, I think of Al and Laurie, Russ and Annette, and Mark and Annette as my friends, and both together and individually they have blessed me, encouraged me, inspired me and challenged me to higher heights in my walk with Christ. They are musical artists, singers, songwriters, evangelists, encouragers, and servants of Christ. I am thankful for them and for their music ministry, and I wish that all of my friends everywhere get an opportunity to meet and hear this group sing. You will be blessed and enriched, and you, like me, will give thanks to God for GoodNews.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 41: JOY!

Today is the Third Sunday in Advent, and our Advent Theme this year means that today is the Sunday of Rejoicing. It makes me stop and think about the real underlying message of Christmas—an essential ingredient in God's eternal plan to redeem lost (fallen) humankind and restore us to a mutually-satisfying relationship with Him. Nearly every character making an appearance in the Christmas story, whether shepherds or wise men, Simeon, Anna…even the "little drummer boy!" (yes, okay, that was just for fun…) all responded with rejoicing at the news that the Messiah had arrived.

For this reason, most of the music of Christmas is joyful in its expression, and that music which is not joyful, like the melancholy "Blue Christmas" and other songs, is person-focused rather than Christ-focused. When considering the "good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people", it is the most natural of responses to rejoice and be glad.

Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the joy of living and the joy of knowing You, and because of Jesus, the certainty of doing both…forever.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 40: The Church Universal

Today I am thankful for the Church that transcends time and space, and is composed of all those whom God has saved, is saving and will save on the basis of His promise of forgiveness of sin and eternal life for all who believe in His Only Begotten Son, Jesus of Nazareth, known to us today as the Lord Jesus Christ. 

This Universal Church is made up of men and women, boys and girls, from every tribe and nation on earth. Between us, we speak every language and in every one of them, we praise God our Heavenly Father, His Son the Risen Lord, and the Holy Spirit who makes us all One. Tomorrow, Sunday, the Lord's Day, those individual members of the Universal Church who are alive on earth today will gather in groups—Local Churches—and celebrate the life that God has freely given us in His Son. We will sing songs and hymns in different languages and musical styles, with an unbelievably wide variety of musical instruments, or no instruments at all. We will deliver the message from God's Word from a thousands upon thousands of different pulpits, or no pulpit at all. The message will be preached in an infinite variety of styles by thousands upon thousands of preachers. Yet despite all of the varieties and styles and cultures and contexts, a single message will be common to every single sermon: the clarion call of God speaking to humankind and saying with the authority of the Creator: "Look unto Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:22).

Oh, how I thank God that there is but One Church, glorious in its unity and consistent in its purpose. At least, that is how I believe that God sees us, even when we have trouble seeing it, believing it, and practicing it ourselves.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 39: The Music of Christmas

Today I am giving thanks to God for the wonderful music that helps to decorate the season of Advent and Christmas. While I have previously posted on the topic of music (Click here to read my article on Music) this particular subset of music is deserving in my opinion of its own entry.

Scanning my iTunes™ library, I see that I have in my collection of Christmas music 42 different albums, and 396 unique songs in the Christmas genre, further divided, in my list, between "Sacred Christmas" (227 songs) and "Secular Christmas" (169 songs). The artists recording this songs are sampling from across a very wide span of the music family: Motown, do-wop, rock, country, jazz, gospel, contemporary Christian, and crossover artists. Some artists recognized as "secular" have recorded some wonderful sacred Christmas music, and some Christian artists have taken a swing at some of the secular Christmas/holiday songs. I like it all (or almost all) of it. There are a few artists that I avoid (Clay Aiken comes to mind) and a few others that I play again and again (the Statler Brothers "Christmas Present") is my favorite Christmas album with the Carpenters' "Christmas Portrait" a close second. Kelly's favorite, we were just discussing, is the first of the two Alabama "Christmas" albums.

 I have no less than 12 different versions of "O Holy Night" in my collection, and two more versions (the Sandi Patti and the David Phelps versions) on my wish list. Thank you, Youtube!

Kelly and I began our current collection of Christmas music in 1988, our first Christmas in Berlin. That year our family Christmas gift (a tradition we began that year of giving a gift to our whole family, for our mutual enjoyment) was a new stereo system, including a dual cassette player, radio tuner, and 5 CD disk changer. We had that same stereo in our living room until earlier this year, when we finally gave it away. Naturally, we purchased 4 CDs to with the system. We didn't purchase a 5^th because we couldn't find one more Christmas CD that we thought we would like. Alabama's "Christmas," Ronnie Milsap's "Christmas with Ronnie Milsap," Statler Brothers' "Christmas Present," and one more CD by "Various Artists" rounded out our first year's lineup. We still have, and enjoy, all four of those, though we have long since converted the CDs to MP3 songs and added them to our iTunes collection.

Kelly has two little iPod Shuffle™ MP3 players she uses to listen to music in the car and in the house. One is filled with her "everyday" music, while the other (which happens to be red!) is filled with her favorite Christmas music. I have a "Smart Playlist" set up on my computer that plays every Christmas song in my library that has not been played in the last 11 months—I use this playlist to make sure that I play each one of my 396 songs during the Christmas season (okay, a little obsessive-compulsive tendency there, but I promise you, it is NOT a "Disorder!")

The music of Christmas helps me beyond words to prepare my mind and my heart to "keep Christmas" each year when "The Season Comes 'Round Again." Many of the songs, and certain versions of the familiar songs, hold particular sentimental or nostalgic value to me, and link naturally with memories of Christmases past that I want to remember. At the same time, Kelly and I are both always on the lookout for a new Christmas song to add to our collection. Last year, our daughter (in-law, but we don't keep score!) Katrina introduced us to the song "How Many Kings" when she played and sang it in church. We immediately found a version to add to our iTunes library. Even as I wrote the last sentence, that song began to play on my computer. Weird. (Not really weird. Cool.) A year or more before that, Ty Herndon's "Not So Silent Night" caught our attention. Another of my favorites is the Gaither song "Reaching" from their cantata "Still the Greatest Story Ever Told." Man, do I want to sing that song in a Christmas Eve service! Can't find the soundtrack commercially, but my sister Debbie played the song and recorded a track for me on her digital piano last year. 

Well, I've gone on about this subject too long already. I could keep going as songs play through my mind (which, by the way, is permanently set to "Shuffle" and "Repeat" now, as I've reached a certain age…) but it's time to wrap this one up. Thank You, Heavenly Father, for this wonderful music that speaks so deeply into my life and stirs in me anew this sense of wonder, peace, and joy. The Hallelujah Chorus!

30+ Days of Thanksgiving, Day 38: The People Who Serve Me

Today I am expressing my thankfulness to God for the various people who serve me regularly, often without appreciation or even notice. In particular, I am thankful for the person who delivers our mail, the people who drive the trucks that take away our trash and our recycling materials, and the people who maintain our utility services at our home (gas, electric, cable). 

I am also thankful for the people who drive the snowplow trucks that clear our roads when it snows, even when they plow a pile of packed snow, ice and sandy gravel into my freshly shoveled driveway mouth. I'm thankful for the emergency services workers that stand ready to help me when I really need it—the volunteer firefighters, the police officers, the EMTs and paramedics that are ready to assist me. 

I will mention here also our newspaper carrier, who faithfully delivered our newspaper right up until we decided to discontinue this service. Having done this particular job myself for 10 months recently, I can truly appreciate what a thankless and grueling job that is. In my memory, I cannot remember a single day that our paper was not delivered to the tube in a protective plastic bag, neat, clean and dry, and always on time. Though we have tried to show our appreciation at Christmastime with what for us is a generous Christmas gift/tip, I now know that it wasn't nearly enough.

To the best of my knowledge, these people I have mentioned do not know me personally, nor I them. We have no history together that would warrant their faithful care of me, my family, our home and property. It is their job, I understand. They are paid, or they have chosen, in some cases, to volunteer, to do whatever it is that they do. They most probably have no specific reason to take good care of me personally. Yet take care of me they do. They may be highly compensated for their service, though I think that unlikely in most cases. These people take care of me every day to a greater or lesser extent. They are anonymous to me, mostly. I seldom even see them going about their business, and when I do, I even more rarely speak to them, make eye contact with them, or acknowledge them in any way. Not because I don't wish to; it's just the way things are.

Having now thought about these people long enough to write this post, I wonder if I will pay more attention to these hard working people in the future? I hope that I will. I realize that I have taken them for granted for most of my life. They would probably say that nobody pays any attention to them, or at least, not until something goes wrong. Then suddenly, that person now is at the focus of my irritated attention—a condition that is hardly conducive to being thankful for them and what they do.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the people who attend to my needs every day, every week, or as they are needed. Thank you that they are nearly always present and efficient in the discharge of their tasks. Will You, Father, please help me remember not to take these people for granted, but to show to them, whenever and however possible, that I am truly thankful for them and for what they do for me? Thank you.

30+ Days of Giving Thanks, Day 37: Past Jobs

Today I am giving thanks for the employment I’ve had through the years (outside of church ministry positions), beginning in 1977 with a part-time after school handyman’s helper job working for Claude Rivendell up on Smith Pond in Coventry. Mrs. Rivendell fed me a steady diet of chicken-‘n-biscuits,a meal I disliked, but politely ate and complimented on the first day I worked there, and, because it was their favorite, she fed it to me EVERY day that I worked there. So much for politeness. It worked out, though, because I actually started to like it by the time the job was done. It was there that I learned to ALWAYS keep your shirt ON, wear long sleeves, gloves, and a dust mask when working with the pink Owens Corning Fiberglass rolled insulation. If you’ve worked with it, you know why.

1977--Summer jobs working for farmers putting in hay. Several farmers, several jobs. Hard work. Also very itchy. See note about fiberglass above. Farmers work as hard as anyone I know.

1978-1980--Three summers I worked on some kind of county-subsidized job program for the Village of Afton Department of Public Works. Afton, a small village, combined the job of Superintendent of Public Works with Chief of Police, and gave the job to Jack Bolster—a simple, homespun man who was one of the finest men I ever worked for. I learned a lot about a wide variety of things in that job. I worked with some interesting characters and had a really great suntan those summers!

1979-1982--Various jobs at Philadelphia College of Bible: dish room, washing pots and pans in the kitchen, breakfast cook (I learned to make that grill sing to me under the scrambled eggs or the pancakes.) Even a short stint as security guard. The Burger King girl tried to give me my meal for free at the drive-up window when she saw me in my security guard uniform!

1982-1983--Night auditor at the George Washington Motor Lodge, the Willow Grove Motor Lodge, the Horsham Motor Lodge, and finally the Vestal Howard Johnson Motor Lodge. These overnight jobs fit my college schedule, more or less, and left me tired all the time.

1983-1985--God miraculously provided a job right after Kelly and I were married. The job I thought I had lined up fell through. I was hired as a two-week replacement for a masonry laborer who was on vacation. I worked hard and two weeks turned into two-and-a-half years at Worthington Associates Construction Company, with two promotions and several raises in between. Another job where I learned a lot, some of which I can still remember. I was sad to leave this job, but my first full-time ministry position was starting and I moved to New Jersey with Kelly and 16-month old Derrin.

1986--Delivering newspapers (part-time) to less than 40 customers to supplement my youth pastor salary. A short lived job, partly due to my first knee surgery, during which Kelly had to cover my route.

1987-1992--Five years in the United States Army fits here. It seems like that deserves a post of its own, so I will say little about that now.

1993-1994--A series of assignments with various Temp agencies here. I did some administrative work at Arco Chemical and then at a Sunoco oil pumping terminal near the Philadelphia airport, rewriting the company’s Policies and Procedures manual. Sound interesting? That’s a mistake.

1997-1999—Part-time Bible teacher at Goshen Christian School. Great school, great faculty (mostly), great students (mostly), great parents (mostly). The administrator, Ted Vernon, was the son of my high school biology teacher in Afton. “Small world.”

1997-2000—Prudential Healthcare/Aetna US Healthcare. Started as a temp job, became a permanent part-time job, then a full-time job, then a promotion to Site Manager. An interesting job until they pulled the plug. As Site Manager, I was the last person left, supervising the closing of the office and turning the space  back to the building manager. My first, and only (so far!), severance package.

2001-2006—Levitan, Yegidis & Associates, LLP. Probably my favorite non-church job so far. The partners were fantastic to me. They allowed me the time I needed when my father was ill. They allowed me to grow with the job and with the firm. They were patient with me and taught me much about bookkeeping and accounting principles and practices. The admin staff I supervised were professional and competent and helped me do my job successfully.

2009-2010—Back to Goshen Christian School, again teaching Bible part time. The school was much smaller this time around, despite adding 3 grades of high school. Probably due in part to the troubled economy, the school struggled financially and could not open in September 2010.

2010-2011—Delivered newspapers again, this time for nearly 400 customers. The schedule nearly ruined me, and took a heavy toll in many ways. I don’t miss that job. Yet, I can say now that I am thankful to God for each of the opportunities I have had through these years.

My mother said that whenever finances got extremely tight, she would pray, and God would send her another job. She did income taxes for I don’t know how many customers on the side after coming home from her full-time job. (This was in the dark ages before Turbo Tax, in the days when everything was done manually with adding machines, pencils, pens and paper forms.)  God has many ways of providing for the needs of His children. These jobs I have listed above, and reminisced over, are just one of the ways He has taken care of me. I thank God for each one.