Good morning and happy Saturday after Thanksgiving. I hope that you had a good Thanksgiving and that each of us strives to be thankful throughout the coming year. Today, the task is to be as creative as you can to use up the rest of the leftovers. Maybe a delicious omelet made with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing would be a great start to the day. If you are in a hurry, just blend it into a smoothie. For lunch, take a large warm tortilla and fill it with leftovers to make a thanksgiving burrito. Follow these delicious recipes and soon, you will be looking forward to having a hamburger or a pizza.
As I was cruising down I-70 the other day, I was flipping through the channels on the radio trying to find some music. I am not sure why the on-air personalities (formerly known as DJ’s) think we want to listen to their incessant babbling. Sometimes, I cycle through all of my preset stations and then have to start searching before I can find a station that is actually playing a song. In case you are wondering, no, my old truck doesn’t have Bluetooth connectivity. As I search desperately for something, I came across a station that was playing music and had a decent signal. As I listened, the song Glory Days by Springsteen came on. In case you haven’t heard it in a while, it is about people that live in the past, looking back to the good old days. In the song, both of the people he mentions are looking back to the glory days of high school when he was a baseball player, and she was attractive to the boys. Sadly, even as they were older, they just sat around talking about their glory days. Unfortunately, I have met a lot of people like that. Some point in their past, often their distant past, was their so-called glory days. Maybe it was high school or college, something in their early years that was a real highlight. Nothing wrong with that unless you allow it to overshadow everything thing else from that point on. When you turn 50 it doesn’t matter that much what grade you got on a math quiz in 11th grade, or whether you caught or even dropped a ball. I had great hair back in high school. It was parted down the middle and feathered back. Now, it’s all gone. No need to sit around and reflect on that. I save a lot of money on haircuts and shampoo. Anyway, I think we should reflect on each season of life. We can certainly look back, but also live in the present and prepare for the future.
When I teach people about preparing and sharing their testimonies, I encourage them to talk about 3 things: 1. What their life was like before they became a Christian. 2. How they came to the point of trusting Christ as their Lord and Savior. 3. The difference Christ has made in their lives. What I have seen a lot is that people can generally work through the first two parts fairly quickly. Sadly, many people get stuck on the third part. They can look back to their time of salvation, which is very important. After all, it is the moment in history when a person is changed from death to life and receives salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. That cannot be minimized. However, it is also the start of your Christian life not the end. Far too many people can tell you that they made a decision at a youth camp, VBS or a service at some point in the distant past, but they really can’t tell you how it made a difference in the way they live their lives. For them, their glory days is in the past. The same is true for a lot of people that can say things like, “remember when we went on that mission trip back in the 90’s?”, “remember when we used to teach children’s church?”, “remember when we attended regularly, gave sacrificially, served wholeheartedly?” If I can encourage you with anything this morning it is this: live your life for Christ, your whole life. Don’t get to the point where every highlight is in the distant past. Have good memories, make new ones. Look forward to what will happen in the future.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
From our neighborhoods to the nations,
Pastor Larry
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