Thanksgiving

Days remembered- with my family gathering in my aunts home, just across the street from the mill village that my family worked in, some all their lives. The home was filled with memories of others long gone but living on in stories told and anecdotes repeated in laughter. The table was filled with the best everyone could bring - but the side table was where my hopes lay - pecan pies, carrot cakes, and everything else.

Some years not everyone could be there. I can remember my cousin's being in Vietnam one year, and in Germany after that, serving his nation in the Army. Years later, another was off in Iraq, flying helicopters. Sometimes it was hard to believe we had chased each other through the living room just a few years earlier as boys.

A mixture of pride and fear crept over us those years, and the prayers at the table spoke of faith in a God bigger than our fears. This year is filled with uncertainty, as our nation is at war. Family after family will sit down to a table with empty chairs bearing witness. Our men and women are away, in harm's way. As we bow our heads tomorrow, many things have changed since I was a boy.

God hasn't.

Hebrews 6
When God wanted to guarantee his promises, He gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee-- 18God can't break his word. And because His word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.
We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. 19It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God

Be thankful. Our God is faithful to care, to love, to save.

Grace!

David

This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.