The title of this article is also the title of one of my all-time favorite hymns. “Because He Lives” was written by Bill Gaither in 1971. According to Bill Gaither, the song was written after a period of time when he had had a kind of dry spell and hadn’t written any songs for a while.
It’s always easy to tell the seasons are changing. Although many like the fall season, they don’t like the next season....winter.
Summer’s okay and I love spring. But as a youngster who had fire red hair, summer was not my friend. Sunburn after sunburn after sunburn. And it was always a blistered (usually second degree burns), painful experience.
It was several summers ago when Christine and I were visiting her Aunt Dorothy in Arizona. We were invited to the home of her millionaire friend, Beverly, for dinner. I remember the huge living room was two steps higher than the rest of the house, but the thing that impressed me the most was that Beverly was a collector of John Wayne memorabilia. In addition to a large portrait mounted on the wall was one of his rifles, a vest, and other valuable items. Not only was Beverly a huge fan, but John Wayne was extremely popular and a favorite of many other people in the 1960s and 1970s.
Though it is still officially autumn, the arrival of November for me has always meant the start of winter. Thus, November has little to offer with this exception – Thanksgiving.
Popular Pilgrim mythology notwithstanding, our first true thanksgiving most likely took place in the year 1676 at Charlestown, Mass. The community’s governing council unanimously voted to declare June 29th as a day of thanksgiving to God.
Many years ago, our niece, Lynn Wilson, gave us the book, “Front Porch Tales.” She told us that this book reminded her of the many wonderful memories she had while sitting on our front porch and telling stories of our lives. One story in the book was the author telling about his first job, that as a paperboy. Since I had been a paperboy, I could relate to some of the things he wrote. Here is his story:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.” ~ Ronald Reagan
I thought of Ronald Reagan’s warning as I watched allegedly smart young college students demonstrate in support of the terrorist organization Hamas as swell as the equally evil Hezbollah.
I cannot imagine American students demonstrating in support of Nazi Germany when Hitler’s military machine rolled through Poland, or Netherlands, or Belgium, or France.
In the ancient Church, Christian worship was centered on two things: the Word and the Lord’s Supper. They very simply modeled what happens on Sunday according to the pattern demonstrated in Acts 2:42, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (ESV) Out of this vague order of worship arose two major parts of the service: The Service of the Word and the Service of the Sacrament.
If I had been traveling with Christopher Columbus in 1492, looking for a new sea route to India, China, Japan and other places, we would still be looking. Since I have no sense of direction, hard telling where we would have ended our journey. Come to think of it, he didn’t do such a good job of going to those countries because he ended up here.
Americans always have had a special interest in “firsts,” including firsts related to the president of the United States.Beginning with our first president, George Washington was the first to deliver what is now called the State of the Union address. Also, he was the first to issue a pardon, a veto and an executive order.Who was the first sitting president to ride in an automobile? That would be William McKinley.
One of my favorite children authors was Dr. Seuss or Ted Geisel. When you look back at his books it is easy to see that although Dr. Seuss never thought of himself as an exemplary Christian, his storytelling did have a Christian orientation.