Terrie’s and my first Thanksgiving together was sure to be slim. I was a nineteen-year-old Bible college student, and I wasn’t exactly what you would call wealthy! At the time, I worked for Caterpillar Inc. in City of Industry, California. I was thankful for my job and grateful for the opportunity it gave me to provide for my new bride.

About a week before Thanksgiving, Jim Anderson, the General Manager gave every employee a small turkey. I could hardly believe his generosity—this few pound bird would mean that Terrie and I would have a Thanksgiving dinner.

My amazement was compounded, however, when I heard the older guys at work complain about the size of the turkey. (It actually was very small.) “What does Jim think we’re going to do with a bird this little anyway?” “He’s cheap—he just gives us this game hen to make us like him.”

I brought the turkey home, and Terrie and I enjoyed every bite. I also wrote a thank you note to Mr. Anderson. It was pretty simple—I just thanked him for his thoughtfulness and let him know I appreciated my job. I sent the note; we ate the turkey; and that was the end of the story in my mind. (more…)

How do you say “thank you” for God’s goodness? Really, it’s impossible to fully express our thanks.  But when your heart is overflowing with gratitude, it will find an outlet.

Psalm 100 is the outpour of a heart focused on God’s abundant blessings to His people. In this Psalm of thanksgiving, verses 1–2 reveal three ways a thankful heart expresses gratitude.

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

1. A heart of joy

Joy is the outgrowth of a thankful heart. Even in our darkest days, we have more blessings than we can count. And if we will actually pause to count them, as the song “Count Your Blessings” says, we will be surprised “at what the Lord hath done.”

Thankful people are joyful people. Count your blessings! (more…)

It’s just a simple box on the closet shelf of our bedroom, but it holds years of memories.

I first got the idea to incorporate the “Thanksgiving Box” into part of our family holiday tradition when our children were quite young. One year, after our Thanksgiving dinner, I gave each of the children a sheet of paper and a pencil, and I asked them to write down the top five things they were grateful for. This was not a pressured activity to think of the best things, nor was it a competition to see who could come up with the most. It was simply an exercise to write down what God had done for us. Terrie and I wrote our own lists as well. When everyone was finished, we put our lists into the creatively-named “Thanksgiving Box.”

The following year, we repeated the tradition. Only this time, we gave each child their list from the previous year to read before writing a new list. They enjoyed remembering the blessings of the previous year, and their old lists helped to ignite their gratitude for writing a new list. (more…)

The next six weeks are some of the busiest on the calendar. Between now and Christmas, life can easily swallow us up in a whirlwind of holiday preparation and activity. Yet, these busy weeks also hold some of the most sacred moments of the entire year…if we will intentionally look for them.

Thanksgiving, in particular, is easily passed over without us really pausing to give God thanks. Below are five simple suggestions that have helped me use this holiday to draw closer to the Lord through the month of November. (more…)

Today we remember veterans—men and women who have given of themselves for our freedom. And I’m thankful for every one of them—from the minutemen of the war for independence to the heroic Americans serving today in the deserts of Afghanistan and Iraq.

I never had the privilege of serving in our nation’s armed forces. God called me to preach as a young teenager, and I’ve given my life to “Fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12).

Yet, I am acutely aware—today especially—that the liberty I enjoy to preach the Gospel was paid for by untold ranks of courageous soldiers. (more…)