Not A Happy Thanksgiving

 My heart is grieved today as tens of millions of Americans celebrate Thanksgiving. I know that probably sounds odd. I know in my soul it is not a happy day for everyone. There are many who will struggle through this day for a multitude of reasons. Reasons that others may be oblivious to even recognize. 

There are those who are not happy today because they are alone. On a day when families gather together, love is shared, laughter fills the room, and joyous embraces are numerous, some will go through this whole day alone. Nobody will sit with them at the table. They will not get a phone call. No knock on the door. No invitation to join others. They will sit in silence and solitude drowned out only by the noise of a television. They grieve the loss of loved ones. Some taken by the icy grip of death. Others by heart wrenching divorces. Some by fractured relationships that never healed over time and grudges mixed with stubborn prideful hearts refuse to bend to reconcile. Some sit alone because they had the misfortune of outliving every person who knew them. 

There are many who will have an unhappy Thanksgiving because they live in poverty. They are homeless. They have insufficient funds for a traditional holiday feast. Some of these people are too proud to accept charity. They will scrounge through trash cans hoping to get enough food to survive. So they will suffer through this day in lack instead of in plenty. They will go through the entire day with hunger pangs gnawing at their stomach. They will sleep in bitter cold fighting in vain to stay warm. The cold will go deep into the bones. They will shiver and their teeth will chatter while millions sit in comfortable houses with fires in the fireplaces and warm clothing. 

There are parents who mourn the whereabouts of prodigal children. There will be an empty place at the table this year reserved for that child who lives in rebellion. These parents will try to put on a happy face for the rest of the family, but deep inside they ache in their soul that the whole family is not together. They will force themselves through a meal with little appetite. They would trade all the food in the world for the restoration of their prodigal child. 

Families will gather today with an empty chair at the table because of the recent loss of a loved one. The grief is still unbearable. Tears still flow. The memories of a mother, father, grandparent or child gone forever on this side of eternity is almost unbearable and crushing. Holidays will never be the same without them. Brenda and her sisters are living through this with the death of their mother back in April. It's hard to believe that she is gone. She was the last living parent for all of us. 

I'm reminded that it's not always a Happy Thanksgiving. My soul grieves for each of these. It makes me pause and recall that I have it so much better. I also lift up a prayer for those who are not having a happy day. Only God can help. 

We're Not 20 Anymore

 God must have a sense of humor. Brenda and I are both 59. One of her favorite sayings to me when I dream some new adventure in faith is, "I'm not 20 anymore." The reason I wrote God must have a sense of humor is that we are still working with students at our age. For the past 15 years I have served both as pastor and student pastor at the different churches we served. I thought we had moved past that decades ago. It just so happened in each church we served that leadership was needed with teenagers, and once again we found ourselves rubbing shoulders with young people 45 years younger than us. Even one of our youth workers commented last night she was born in 1990. Brenda and I graduated from college that year. We're getting too old for this. 

After full day of preaching and teaching, we did something I still can't believe last night. We held a lock in for our students. We had 30 students attend. We were tired before the lock in even started. It went from 8:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. We played games, had an evangelistic lesson, did our version of the hit food network series "Chopped", and enjoyed a midnight breakfast buffet. I am usually in bed by 9:00 p.m. most nights. We did all that plus added a movie around 2:00 a.m. on a Sunday night. It was a gut check. Our two youngest sons pulled the rip cord and baled out around 2:30 in the morning. We were blessed with two ladies who stayed the course all night long. They were a huge help with us. Others came for part of the night and stayed as long as they could. 

Brenda and I finally got to bed around 7:40 this morning. We awoke three hours later and have been going ever since. We are not 20 anymore. I don't know why God has us still working with students. I'm not relevant with their social media, video game driven, high drama, self entitled, and fragile identities. I'm a Bible preacher and teacher and not an event planner. Yet, in the goodness of God He still saves students. We saw the Lord save three last Wednesday night. We baptized a seventh grade girl yesterday morning. 

I have never served a group of students like those I see here. You can see the pain in their eyes. Some of these students have been hurt deeply and stumble through their days with gaping emotional wounds. Though it is not spoken out loud, it is evident some of these students have been abused. They carry the trauma with them. A few act out in rebellious ways because hurt people hurt other people. At this young age, we already see the signs of addiction. 

Why do Brenda and I keep laboring with students as we are fast approaching our senior adult years. Why do so many other adults give of their time and money over and over again to sacrifice or and serve students? We care. We care deeply about the souls and wellbeing of students. We still go to their ball games. We still try to build relationships with them. We still pray for God to transform them. We still find ways to serve them. 

We are not alone. We had several volunteers work that lock in. One man stayed up past midnight even though he had to be at work very early the next morning. Another young couple worked with us past midnight also bringing their young daughter and two five year old twin boys. We even had a few senior adults stay up late to serve as judges for our chopped competition. One grandmother stayed up the whole night serving because her two grandsons were in attendance. Another man stayed with us as long as he could before having to get sleep before work this morning. One lady has held down the fort for years with these students really stepped up last night again. She affectionately calls the students her kids. She is loving as a mother to those students, but can also be as tough as a father when needing to make students behave. 

We all left tired and longing for our beds  this morning. We may not be 20 anymore, but the eternity and spiritual well being of hundreds of students hangs in the balance. God has to give supernatural strength and the heart to love teenagers who do not always appreciate those labors of love. First Southern Baptist Church loves teenagers and children. Our people go the extra mile to show it. We feed high school students a free lunch each Tuesday just to show we care about them. We offer children's ministry in age appropriate ways teaching Bible truths and explaining the way of salvation. We do these things because Jesus embraced children. He loves the little children of the world. Therefore, we will love them too even though we are not 20 anymore.