A Lewis Grizzard Thanksgiving

November 24, 2016

A Lewis Grizzard Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!

    His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 107:1

Back by popular demand is this Thanksgiving story from Lewis Grizzard (1946-1994).

In 1986, Lewis wrote of missing the family Thanksgiving dinner. It was at an uncle's house out in the country. Country folks like to eat dinner early in the middle of the day. Grizzard slept late and missed it. At 1 P.M. that afternoon, he got a call from his friend, B.A., inviting Lewis to catch a plane because one of their favorite bars in Savannah was open even if nothing else was. Lewis said he met B.A. at the Savannah airport three hours later. On their way to their favorite bar they first stopped at a little beer joint just outside the airport. I’ll let Lewis finish telling his story.

“There were a couple of pool tables inside and young men wearing hats with the names of various heavy equipment companies sewn on them were playing. Cigarettes dangled from their mouths. They were silent and expressionless. One got the idea heavy stakes were involved.

A few old men sat around the bar drinking beer. A man and a woman worked behind the bar. There was a juke box playing country music.

"Keep your mouth shut," B. A. said, "and we'll probably be OK."

"Probably..."

We had a few beers and played a few tunes of our own. Nobody had spoken to us until a graybeard sitting a few stools down looked up from his can of beer and asked, "Y'all ain't from around here, are you?"

We said we weren't.

"Y’all going to stay for supper?" the man went on.

"Stay for what? I asked.

"Supper," he said. "We have it here every year on Thanksgiving. It's mostly for the regulars who don't have nowhere else to go, but I'm sure nobody would mind if y'all stayed."

We didn't say yes. But we didn't say no, either.

A half hour later, the door to the joint opened and in walked five or six ladies bearing plates of food. Lots of food. They set up a table near the juke box. Turkey and dressing. A ham. Mashed potatoes and gravy. Green beans. Butter beans. Creamed corn. Homemade rolls. There were also cakes and pies.

The customers put down their beers and pool sticks. They lined up plates in hand for the feast in front of them.

"Y'all more than welcome to eat," said the woman behind the bar. We got in line.

The food was wonderful. We went back twice.

"You do this every year, huh?, I asked one of the ladies that brought the food.

"They's lots of people don't have nowheres to go on Thanksgiving," she said. "Some of 'em come in here to drink cause it ain't as lonely as staying home. We all live in the neighborhood and we just try to share what we got with others."

We stayed until 9 or 10. We tried to pay extra for the food, but nobody would take our money. Thanksgivings come and Thanksgivings go, and, occasionally, one comes along that is very special." (The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, November 27, 1986).

Cheryl and I, and Buster Brown and Hershey are wishing you a Very Special Thanksgiving.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Live As Jesus Did

November 23, 2016

Live As Jesus Did

I am writing to you who are God’s children

    because your sins have been forgiven through Jesus.

1 John 2: 12

John has an interesting style in his writing, especially in the passage 1 John 2:12-14, that reminds me of many contemporary praise songs. In a manner similar to the Taizé movement in France, these contemporary songs use repetitive phrases as a means of meditation. The point is to take the time to let the truth of the phrase go deep within our spirit. John is repetitive throughout this passage (and the whole letter) for the same reason.

John’s message is as timely today as it was for his first century recipients. John was very concerned about disharmony in the body of believers. His message was quite simple: “Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did” (1 John 2:6), or in the parlance of this BLOG, if you say you love God, then seek the life in Christ as your way of life. As you seek to live your life as Jesus lived his, I believe there are two primary incidents that exemplify his character.

The first is to remember who was present at the table with him for the Passover supper. And whose feet did he wash? Secondly, let us never forget his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane: “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39b). Pondering on how we may incorporate these attributes of Jesus into our lives will keep us busy until that wonderful day when our faith becomes sight!

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Thanking Our Abba Father

November 22, 2016

Thanking Our Abba Father

But if anyone does sin,

we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father.

He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.

1 John 2:1b

When United Methodist pastors are ordained, one of the many affirmations we make is to agree with John Wesley that we are going on to perfection. Some folks dismiss as folly the belief that we are can achieve a state of sinless perfection in our mortal lives. But that’s not what we believe. What we are affirming is our belief in the Apostle John’s proclamation in 1 John 1. John affirms that God is light and if we claim to have fellowship with God, but willingly continue to live in sin, we are not practicing the truth. John is teaching the followers of Jesus to own their sin and weakness and seek God’s power to move into His light.

John’s teaching includes two of the greatest promises in all of scripture. First, we are not alone in our battle against living in spiritual darkness: “But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous” (1 John 2:1b). Take a moment to truly let this promise sink in. Can you remember a time recently when you struggled with temptation? Like the Apostle Paul, we all can claim our moments when we “want to do what is right, but (we) can’t. (We) want to do what is good, but (we) don’t. (We) don’t want to do what is wrong, but (we) do it anyway” (Romans 7:18b-19).

Even when we give in to temptation, our advocate, Jesus the truly righteous one, is pleading for us before God’s throne! Please, let this truth sink deep within your spirit.

Secondly, we don’t have to be afraid to own our sins and confess them to God: “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness” (1 John 1:9). Because Jesus, the truly righteous one, is pleading for us, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. This surely is the Good News of the Gospel.

The day after tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. As you give thanks on that special day, I invite you to include thanking our Abba Father for these two GREAT promises.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Enormity of It All

November 21, 2016

The Enormity of It All

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.

1 John 1:1

The enormity of it all is overwhelming. I had that thought recently as I was looking at some photographs made by the Hubble telescope. The photos clearly revealed clusters of stars and galaxies millions of light years away from planet earth. To travel just one light year, you would travel 5,865,696,000,000 miles. When I travel seven hundred miles in a day and a half, I am tired. How long would it take me to travel five trillion, eight hundred sixty-five billion, six hundred ninety-six million miles? Like I said, the enormity of it all is overwhelming.

So also is the basis of the Christian faith. When you consider the enormity of the infinite universe, the idea of a Creator is not that much of a leap of faith. However, for that Creator to desire a personal relationship with humankind, for that Creator to become a living human being, for that human being to suffer and die on a cross, for that dead and buried human being to be resurrected from the dead and live again, for that resurrected human being to be God, . . . well the enormity of it all is overwhelming. But wait, there’s more! This resurrected God gives an invitation to all human beings to come unto Him, to live in unity with Him for all eternity. Now, the enormity of it all is truly overwhelming!

Because of this enormity, human beings have surrendered to the temptation to reduce God to a more manageable size. At the time John was writing this letter, there was a faction in the church who could not accept that in Jesus, God had really become a human being. John opens this letter with his assurance that Jesus was most certainly fully human. John says that he saw Jesus, he heard Jesus, he touched Jesus and that he had, and is continuing to enjoy, fellowship with God the Father and His Son, Jesus.

Yes, the enormity of it all is overwhelming. That just makes it more wonderful when you make the leap of faith into the loving arms of Jesus.

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.