"Give thanks with a grateful heart"

It is Thanksgiving week.  I’m grateful for so many blessings in my life.  First and foremost, I want to declare that at the top of my gratitude list is for the person and work of Jesus Christ, the God-man.  The One who died on the cross for me to pay for my sin debt; then He proved His deity (as if it needed proving at that point) by rising from the dead.  I love Don Moen’s classic song “Give thanks”; he sings, “Give thanks with a grateful heart; give thanks to the Holy One, give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son.  And now, let the weak say, “I am the strong” let the poor say, “I am rich” because of what the Lord has done for us.”

As I was putting all this together, I had the thought that someone reading this blog for the first time is inclined to think something like, "This fellow must be one of those guys who is blind to the pain and heartache of life.  Thanks to some “Jedi mind trick” (I'm quoting The Flash, from the DC animated story “Crisis on Two Earths”, when someone was trying to manipulate his mind)."  Let me state, for the record, that could not be further from the truth.  I have felt deep pain, heartache, and agony.  There are many examples I could point to.  I could mention my health challenges, last year’s even putting me in the hospital.  Or, I could mention emotional hurts I have experienced, where it felt like someone was stabbing me in the heart with their words.  But let me highlight something else:

Back in 2015, my father, Jerry, passed away unexpectedly.  I still miss him every day.  Even almost a decade later, I can be taken right back to that deep pain and hurt.  For instance, I’ve been watching the 4th and final season of “Superman and Lois”.  This show features Clark Kent and Lois Lane married, with their two sons, Jonathan and Jordan.  Season 4 starts off with an emotional bang, as they are doing their own take on the iconic death and return of Superman comic.  I haven’t seen much of this season yet (I will have to write a separate blog about this in the future), but when Lois and the boys grieve the death of their super husband/dad, I was crying my eyes out right along with them.  Because I was gripped, all these years later, over not being able to see my own father again – at least on this side of Heaven – because Dad was a real Superman, in many ways.

Let me be quick to mention that this is why I began today with the gratitude for my relationship with the Lord Jesus.  If it weren’t for Him, I would never have been able to deal with my dad’s passing, or any of the other episodes I’ve brought up.  Because of Him, I’m able to entrust whatever is in the coming days to His hands.  Because of Him, I’m able to forgive when given the deepest emotional hurts imaginable.  While I don’t always do a very good job of displaying Him, anything that is praiseworthy from me ultimately comes from the Lord.  Give Him all the glory.

Furthermore, I admit I can easily get fixated on what I don’t have rather than what I already do have.  One of the traditions I’ve practiced over the years that helps me overcome this negative tendency is writing an acrostic with the word ‘thanksgiving’ and a blessing that correlates with each letter of that word.  I’m not going to list every letter today, but for example, T is time.  I’ve learned again and again that every day I draw breath is a gift.  H is healings; because God has healed me more than once.  This exercise reminds me of all of the gifts I have, from the generous hand of God.  It makes me want to sing out, to quote the Don Moen lyric again, “Give thanks with a grateful heart; give thanks to the Holy One.”

Let me conclude by citing Psalm 103:1-5; I could write a whole blog just going through this wonderful passage, phrase by phrase.  Instead let me just quote it today; it reads, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name.  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

God bless,

Kevin

"Where would I be without You?"

Hello, friend!  It feels like I haven’t written anything for months.  Life has presented various challenges of late – potential blog content, I suppose.  Anyway, lately I have been listening to various songs from Rebecca St. James again; this is in part due to seeing the excellent film about Rebecca and her family titled, “Unsung hero”.  In 1997, she released a Christmas album titled simply “Christmas”; and while I can hardly believe how rapidly 2024 has flown by, Christmas isn’t far off, so it’s appropriate to bring this up today.

When I recently heard the beautiful song on that Christmas album titled “A Cradle Prayer”, I confess I got a little emotional.  The idea behind this song, as Rebecca herself stated, is to “imagine yourself, sitting by baby Jesus’ cradle on the night He was born, and singing to Him everything you were feeling inside!”  Here’s a sampling: “Jesus, I love You.  My Lord, my life, where would I be without You?  [Now you see, where I got today’s title.]  Here in the quiet, the still, the night, I am in awe of You.  Trials may come, and friends they may go, what really matters is You, my Lord.  Beautiful Savior, my God, my friend, I am in awe of You.”  It would be negligent of me if I didn’t throw in this refrain from the song too: “Why would You, Creator and King, come as a baby, for all, for me?”

Scott Bayles, in his tremendous book “Holy Heroes: The Gospel according to DC and Marvel” devotes a chapter to Black Widow A.K.A. Natasha Romanoff.  You might recall a scene in the 2012 film “Marvel’s The Avengers” where Natasha is trying to get information out of Loki, in an attempt to get him to lower his guard, she confesses to Loki that she has “red in my ledger; I’d like to wipe it out.”  And Loki goes on to state that might not even be possible.  With that in mind, Scott writes,

“Few readers of this chapter have committed crimes as violent as Natasha’s or as vengeful as Saul/Paul’s.  Yet, like them, our past is swarming with sins.  Sin is the Bible word for everything that isn’t good and right in relationship with God, other people, creation, and self.  We may not be spies, assassins, or persecutors of the church, but we are all sinners.  The Bible assures us of this: “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard?”  (Romans 3:23; NLT) … Like Natasha we each have red in our ledgers, and left to ourselves, not one of us is able to wipe it out.  We need to look elsewhere for our salvation.”

This is where we point to Jesus.  Because only He is the sinless, God in human flesh; He alone is the only one qualified to take the penalty of our sin – death itself – upon Himself.  And that’s exactly what He did on the cross.  Scott Bayles continues, “All our faults, failures, and foibles went to Jesus on the cross – the selfishness of the glutton, the bitterness of the angry, the shame of the adulterer.  Jesus took it all, as if he had lied or cheated or cursed his Maker.  After six hours upon the cross, Jesus whispered, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) … When Jesus uttered those words, he wiped out all the red in my ledger and yours.  He paid a debt that we could never pay.” 

You know, when I write these blogs, I internalize these concepts.  These aren’t just theoretical notions that don’t touch my heart.  I let God minister to me first.  “Where would I be without You?”  Asked Rebecca in “A Cradle Prayer”.  I can tell you where I would be: an absolute train wreck, going down dark paths of selfishness and destruction.  But, when I contemplate what Jesus did for me, all I can do is worship, praise, and thank Him.  And - as the Lord reminded me when He dropped this verse in my spirit - I am to live for Him now.  2 Corinthians 5:15 says Jesus died “that those who live should no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”   

This brings me to a poignant moment in the life of Natasha Romanoff, and I will conclude today on this note.  You see, the excellent book from Scott Bayles that I’ve quoted – “Holy Heroes” – was written in 2016.  So at the time, no one knew that in 2019, Natasha would choose to die a noble death in the movie “Avengers: Endgame”.  She did this to save, in Natasha’s own words, “billions of people.”  Both Hawkeye and Natasha knows the sacrifice that needs to be made.  Natasha begins to act.  Just the thought of this breaks Hawkeye’s heart.  “No, please no,” he implores her.  “It’s okay,” Natasha says.  And with that, she proceeds to fall to her death. 

As Hawkeye cries, we who are watching this gut-wrenching moment is crying right along with him – just as I am crying now as I write this.  It’s a bittersweet, noble end to Natasha’s story.  But take a step back.  We also see a picture here of the death that Jesus died on the cross.  For you, for me, and for the whole world.

God bless,

Kevin