Thanksgiving Hallelujah!

On this Thanksgiving Day and weekend, I invite each of us to find time between the turkey, the pumpkin pie, the shopping and the endless football games to thank our Heavenly Father for His extravagant love and grace that He has so richly showered on each of us.  

And I’d invite us all to offer thanksgiving to God today, not only for the blessings we have received this past year, but also for the blessings that are to come this next year.  You know, regardless of life’s challenges that we each face, we have much to be thankful for.  And we have a choice.  I know we have all heard the phrase “have an attitude of gratitude,” but what would happen if we truly lived out that attitude?  You and I can choose to be thankful for what we have or, instead, we can look at the things we lack in our lives.   We can choose to face the challenges in our lives with bold assurance that God will be there walking beside us even in the valleys and on those darkest of days.

There is a wonderful song by Bethany Dillion called “Hallelujah.”  It’s a song that has touched my heart over the past month.  Cheri Almquist, Calvary’s women's ministry director, shared the words of this song at the Women’s Fall Breakfast as part of her opening welcome.  It’s a powerful song about choosing to sing hallelujah through all the situations we face in life.  Here are the words from the chorus:

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Whatever's in front of me

Help me to sing hallelujah

Hallelujah, hallelujah

Whatever's in front of me

I'll choose to sing hallelujah

I can see why so many people have taken this song to be their “life song.”  What a wonderful reminder these words are for us on this Thanksgiving Day.  May we always choose to sing hallelujah! 

May God’s richest blessings surround you and your family on this Thanksgiving Day and always.

Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

Pastor Carol

My BFFs

Have you thought about the friends you’ve had in your life over the years?  There are friends you played with as a young child. The best friend you would tell all your hopes and dreams to when you were growing up. The friends you hung out with in college. The friends on the various sports teams you played on in school. The friends at church and at civic clubs you belong to.  We all have friends!  Some people have oodles and oodles of friends. 

When I think, however, about those friends who have actually been there “doing life” with me over the years, those friends who have stood by me in the good, the bad and the tough times of life, my list goes down to a much smaller number. Who in your life is a faithful friend to you?  Can you think of one or two?  Perhaps this person has been in your life for a long time or maybe this person is a friend that God placed in your life to walk beside you for a season. 

I know I’m blessed to have a core group of friends who have been part of my life for many years, as well as some fairly “new” friends who, although we have only been friends for a short time, have come into my life in very unexpected ways.  I’m forever amazed at how God brings people into my life.  I’m even more amazed by the way that He surrounds me with faithful friends who not only accept me for who I am, but also love me anyway! 

This week we looked at the story of Ruth.  I’m always surprised with this story of friendship.  Ruth and Naomi do not seem to be the ones destined for a life-long friendship.  They worshipped different Gods, they came from different peoples, and they were separated in age by a generation.  Yet, this unlikely pair became friends--BFFs if you will.  Ruth’s dedication to Naomi is a testament to the power of faithful friendship--friends who support you no matter what the situation, no matter the time or the place, and no matter if it interrupts their lives. 

One of my favorite songs of all time is Michael W. Smith’s song, “Friends.”  Remember, that faithful friends are gifts from God.  We need to treasure them and thank God for them every day.

In His Grip!

Pastor Carol

Call Me Faithful!

Faithful.  Pastor Steve this past week asked each of us to come up with one word to describe our legacy of the time we spent in this world--an epitaph of sorts.  What one word will people use to describe you when you are gone?  He suggested that the one that he wanted on his tombstone was FAITHFUL. 

When I think about that one word, many different thoughts flood my mind.  We often use it as an adjective to describe a noun:  faithful spouse, faithful parent, faithful friend, faithful daughter, faithful church member, faithful dog.  What do we really mean when we call someone "faithful"?  Sure there is the obvious meaning, which is to be steady, strict or thorough in the performance of duty; to be steady in allegiance, affection, loyal and constant; to be reliable and trusted.  What does being faithful really mean if we were to go beyond the mere surface meaning?  I think it goes much deeper and it pervades our lives in ways we may not even have words to express.

A question that I’ve been pondering this week, which ties into the word faithful, has been:  Are you really walking the walk, Carol?  Are you faithful in all your actions, thoughts, and resources?  Would people call you faithful?  Yikes!  I wish I could say loudly – YES.  Sadly, I came up a bit short when I examined my actions, thoughts and the use of my resources over the past week.  Perhaps faithfulness is a journey--one that ebbs and flows, one that spillsover and invades us at different times and touches us in varied places throughout our lives.  Being faithful is a calling, of sorts--perhaps even an action more than a description of someone. 

As a church, are we faithful?  As disciples of Christ, are we each faithful to that calling?  Over the past week during one of my hospital calls, I visited a Calvary member that has been in and out of the hospital over the past few months.  This person told me about the wonderful opportunity God gave to him to witness to a nurse the other night in the hospital.  He talked about the fact that even in the hospital the Lord was using him.  To me, that is someone who is being faithful!  No matter the circumstances, no matter the place, no matter the pain he was in, this faithful disciple of Christ looked beyond his own suffering and was able to share his faith with a nurse who needed some encouragement in her faith. 

Here’s a great song called “I Call You Faithful.”  God is always faithful to His promise to us.  No matter what our tombstones may say, God is always faithful to those who believe in Him.  Praise be to God!

In His Grip!

Pastor Carol

Bullies, Dollies and Giants!

Just like the Israelites faced the Canaanites, we all have faced giants in our own lives.  I remember in Kindergarten there was a girl who used to torment me.  She was about 12 inches taller than me and she always took the dolly I was playing with during playtime.  She was a bully.  My mom’s ridiculous advice to me was to just pick another doll to play with and let her play with the one she wanted.  Basically, my mom told me to turn the other cheek.  Ignore the bully!  Sound advice unless you are the one that has to confront the “giant” every day! 

Well, one day, I had about enough, and so I grabbed her by the neck, wrestled her and got “the doll!”  I felt like I was queen of the world for about 30 seconds.  Then the teacher got a hold of me and I got punished for “hurting” that poor defenseless girl!  My mom had a long talk with me when I got home, especially after the teacher called my mom to discuss “Carol’s bad behavior.”  While I have been a “little angel” my whole life, my halo has always been a bit askew!  Actually, after that little incident, the “giant” girl and I became friends!  Go figure!  God restores relationships in interesting ways sometimes. 

In the sermon this week, I mentioned that in the lower story, the world we live in, the giants in our lives are always bigger than we are and they always seem to win; but in God’s story, the upper story, God is always bigger than the giants.  Over the past week I had an opportunity to chat with several of you who are facing some pretty big giants in your lives.  Some of you are dealing with health issues, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s; others of you mentioned that the giant in your life is financial; and one person mentioned to me that the giant in your life was unforgiveness toward someone.  All of those are indeed big giants! 

Learning to turn to God with our “giants” is sometimes hard for those of us who are Type-A personalities and like to be in control of things.  However, when we finally go to our Father in prayer and give our burdens to Him, the giants we are facing do not go away necessarily overnight, but they can become a whole lot smaller.  No matter the giants you are facing today, know that your Father in Heaven not only loves you, but He is ready and able to handle your burdens and “neutralize” the giants.  We just need to be willing to trust Him, obey Him, and give up our burdens to Him. 

A few years ago, there was a movie called “Facing the Giants.”  It was a wonderful story with a great lesson about the giants we face.  In the movie, Coach Taylor convinces his determined team of underdogs that there's nothing they can't accomplish with a little faith -- including the miracle of a winning season when all hope seems lost.  Here’s a song from the movie by Josh Bates called “You Never Give Up on Me.”  God never gives up on any of us, so why not let Him carry your “giants” today?

In His Grip,

Pastor Carol