Pondering Our Uniquely American Thanksgiving

One American Family at Thanksgiving

A New Generation of American Pilgrims

Another year has passed and what has been done? In our little American family, another year of maturing has happened. The count at this time is five grandchildren. We are praying for many more to come. Why?.....because that is the will of God for our family. He graciously sent four children to Ike and me to raise to the Glory of God. We had no idea at the time. We were just living our lives and trying to make a living, do the best we could to raise these children, and become all we could as Christians.

Now we have four grown children. Our two sons are married to wonderful ladies who have become good mothers to their children. One of our daughters is married to a wonderful young man who is building a business, loving his wife, and patiently waiting along with her for the children they pray will be coming in God's perfect timing. Our other daughter is in the best situation of all of us. She lives with Jesus in perfection and holiness. Our Miss Brooke was taken from earth on December 19, 2001, in a car accident on her way to work as a riding instructor.

We will never stop missing her sweet presence on earth with us, but we are all better people by having been blessed with her for twenty-four years. I know she is happy in Heaven.

Thanksgiving is vital to the Christian life. Giving thanks daily for God's care and provision in every area is just like breathing. It is the natural thing for a Christian to do. We have nothing and are nothing that He has not provided. Therefore, we should live in a perpetual state of thanksgiving to our God.

We have one day a year dedicated to giving thanks to God for our country. That day is Thanksgiving Day. The date is always the last Thursday in November, as chosen by President Abraham Lincoln. This is a very special "holy"day for us. Knowing American History gives us an understanding of what we have to be thankful for. God chose in his perfect timing again to bring a group of Godly people through some amazingly difficult situations to this land. The reason the Pilgrims came here was mostly to propagate the gospel to the people already living here. That is not the reason most people who followed them here came. There were various and sundry reasons, not all of them holy or Godly. At any rate, the Pilgrims came in obedience to God and no matter what kind of difficulties confronted them, they continued in their quest. It is a wonderful study that can be life-changing when you realize what it cost them and many others after to give us the freedom we enjoy today.

Is Thanksgiving 'turkey day'.......Heaven forbid! That statement breaks my heart and reveals an ignorance on the part of the speaker of our heritage. The truth has not been taught and it is all but lost. God is not finished with this country He established. It is up to us as citizens to pick up the mantle and re-educate our children and grandchildren in the truth of our history. It is vital to the continuation of this nation. Without a true knowledge of our Godly history, we have no idea what we are doing or why we are doing it.

These are some of the reasons that we make Thanksgiving our biggest celebration in our home.

It has been relegated to nothing but a day off work and a day to eat and watch football. That is very far from the real purpose. Ike and I are committed to doing all we can to communicate to our grandchildren truth. In order to communicate it, we have to know it, and that is why we spend so much time studying and searching for what really happened and not what some revisionist historian has written for his particular political reasons.

The children are the hope of any civilization. America's children are not recieving enough truth and it falls to us as their parents to make sure they know it because they will not receive it in school. It has been removed from our history books, excuse me, Social Studies books. History is not considered important anymore. How ridiculous!!! It is our foundation. It is our children's foundation and without that knowledge the future is bleak indeed.

The new generation of Pilgrims will very soon be our leaders as men and women in our country.

I think that I want my leaders to have knowledge of truth and to have wisdom that only comes from our Father. It is our responsibility to train them in the ways of God foremost and expose them to the truths found only in His word. Again, the only way for that to happen is to know those truths ourselves. Our challenge is great but our source is greater!