I couldn’t have been very old, still in the early years of grade school, and all of us students had a very important assignment to do. We had to write a short theme on what we were thankful for. A simple enough assignment, it didn’t have to be long—just a few things written from a youngster’s heart. As you might imagine, many of the children wrote about things like being thankful for mom and dad, or maybe thankful for God or Jesus. Some were thankful for grandma or their home or their friends. Well, not this young man. Me—I was thankful for my Big Wheel. And let me tell you, that was a sincere statement. I had gotten it for my birthday in September and had virtually ridden it nonstop. I loved that toy! Man, I used to ride that thing up and down the driveway, get it going real fast, then slam on the plastic brake on the side, making it skid all across the driveway. I loved it, and I got a lot of miles out of that thing.
I have looked at getting Big Wheels for my kids, but somewhere along the way someone decided that brake on the side was too dangerous. That’s what it made it so fun!
On this day after Thanksgiving, I stand back and give thanks to God. The Lord is good, and I feel very blessed in my life. And truth be told, I am still thankful for that Big Wheel, but more than that what it represents—a very good and blessed childhood with two wonderful parents who dearly loved me and a family where I was accepted, encouraged, affirmed, and loved.
And I am thankful for my wife, for my children, but most of all my relationship with the Lord, and the blessings God has given me in this life. Just the other day, a fellow church planter from a new church in Portland Oregon, committed to street ministry and serving the homeless on the streets, called to chat and share. We talked how much a blessing it is to see God working in a person and the greatest gift to be used by the Lord to touch another person’s life. Amazing, and God has blessed me abundantly!
Thinking of my children, it was 8 years ago this day that God gave Jan and I our first son, Ben. I was at a conference in Houston when I got the call. Ben’s birth mother had given birth! So I rushed back home and Jan and I got up early in the morning to drive to San Antonio to see our first born son.
I can still remember the first time I laid eyes on Ben. The nurse lifted him up in the baby room for us to see—all red and crying with a good deal of dark hair on his head. Beautiful and amazing. Adoption is a gift from God. All along we felt the hand of God upon us. Happy Birthday, Ben!
Thanksgiving gives us a chance to look back and remember—whose we are and to whom we truly belong, and all the good and blessed things in our lives. Of course, we remember the tough times too, and the ways we are sometimes able to pull together and to feel God’s strength.
And yet, on this Thanksgiving I am also mindful that there are folks who may be experiencing loss or hardship during this time, and the thought of what they have lost dominates their spirit. My prayers are with you. In a very real way, I feel closer to you this day, as I too have received some alarming news.
Jan may have cancer.
She hadn’t been feeling very well, and finally went in to see the doctor. After some tests, we found out she has a mass near her ovaries and it might be cancer. Devastating news. Everything changes when you hear the “C” word. But it’s too early to know for sure. Jan will see an oncologist on Tuesday and we’ll go from there.
We’re scared, and of course full of worry and all of the “what ifs,” often thinking of the worst. “I’m worried for the boys,” she often says. Jan is a wonderful mother and her dominating thought is not for herself, but for the children she loves. I give thanks to God for my wife Jan, who I love so much.
And yet, just last week I preached on Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, telling us to give thanks in all circumstances and to pray without ceasing. In this time of uncertainty, I bet you can guess we’ve hardly stopped praying—for healing and comfort and strength. And we get specific. We want this tumor to be benign and easily taken care of. And baring that for the cancer to be contained and easily dealt with. Please pray for Jan and my family! But we are resolved to follow the path before us, one day at a time. Already we have been surrounded with love and support. It helps. It really helps. And it also helped me realize how many friends we have, how many care about us, and also how many lives we have touched through our ministry and life.
Giving thanks in all circumstances is a bit tougher, but still I know Paul is right, for the thanksgiving helps you to stay centered on God. The Lord will see us through this, no matter what.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. -1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United’s website.
I often give thanks to God for the gift of forgiveness. Certainly, I am thankful when I am forgiven. But also the act of forgiving another can be extremely redemptive. I have seen the inability to forgive hurt someone tremendously. Like a millstone tied around their neck, they let the bitterness take hold, dragging them deeper and deeper to the depths of the abyss.
Thankfully, God’s grace has helped me along my own journey to not let things go too badly. The more we realize God’s grace and what a constant companion our Lord is, even the hurts inflicted on us by others can be met with a confidence of faith and hope that helps you to forgive and move on.
And yet, just recently, I was reminded of the need to forgive. I was with some friends, and we got talking about old times, reminiscing. And then someone brought up the name of a mutual acquaintance—someone who had done me a great wrong awhile back. Not only did they hurt me emotionally, they inflicted damage on something I cared deeply about. It was painful—a cross I took on as I tried to do God’s will, find my way back to wholeness and the love and acceptance of the Lord.
And God has been so faithful to me; the Lord has helped me to forgive, to move on, to heal, and to find peace—God’s shalom again.
But forgiveness is more of a journey than a destination. I’m not sure we are able to truly forgive as God does. And yet, the journey of forgiveness is both a redemptive and a healing one, and it’s best to get on down that road instead of linger at any one place.
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. -Matthew 18:20-22
77 times is a lot, but then I’ve heard it this way: If you are still counting the times you’ve forgiven someone, have you really forgiven them?
Forgiveness is a hard thing.
I say all this because I thought I had forgiven this person who had hurt me. Indeed, I have received much healing from God. At one point, I had to really devote a lot of energy and prayer time into forgiveness. Time has helped, but most of all, I’ve not come into contact with this person in a long time.
But then when the name was brought up again, especially with the chance of coming into close proximity with this person, my heart wrenched. I could feel my levels of anxiety rise, and I sought the comfort and aid of the Lord.
Perhaps I had back-peddled a bit on the journey to forgiveness, and I needed a little help to move on down the road.
It gave me a good dose of humility.
Here’s one of my favorite stories about forgiveness:
In the novel The Great Hunger, a newcomer comes to a farm community. He refuses all friendship with his neighbors and puts out the no trespassing sign. One day a little child from the town climbs underneath his fence to pet his dog. The vicious animal leaps on her and kills her.
Hostility spreads throughout the community. When the newcomer comes to town no one will speak to him. Clerks refuse to wait on him. Spring comes and the merchants refuse to sell him seed. Finally, the father of the girl who was killed comes over and sows his field. This act of kindness is too much for the insufferable newcomer.
“Why-you of all people?” he asks.
The father responds, “To keep God alive in my heart.”
The experience of forgiveness is basic to our spiritual health. It is the way that we keep God alive in our hearts.
I ask your prayers in helping me to forgive, and I shall pray for you as well. Though forgiveness is a hard thing, I can think of nothing at times that is more healing.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. –Matthew 6:12-15
Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United’s website.
King Duncan, in Collected Sermons, tells the story of a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school. His parents warned him one day that he must be home on time that afternoon, but nevertheless, he arrived later than ever. His mother met him at the door and said nothing. His father met him in the living room and also said nothing. You know how sometimes silence can speak louder than any words?
At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water.
He looked at his father’s plate, full of roast beef, savory carrots, potatoes and gravy, a buttered roll.
And then he looked at his father, but his father remained silent. The boy was crushed. The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took the boy’s plate and placed it in front of himself. He took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy, and smiled at his son. When that boy grew up, he said, “All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night.”
My friends, sometimes it is hard for us to realize how much damage our sins do, and what a wondrous blessing God’s grace truly is. Even despite our sinful actions and inactions, despite our selfish and lustful thoughts, despite our skepticism and doubt and distrust, still our Lord offers us the gift of grace, and what a costly gift it is too, for it cost God His only Son, forgiving us, redeeming us, saving us. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, “What cost God so much, should never be cheap to us.”
And he [Jesus] said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. -Luke 24:46-48
Ron Trimmer is pastor of Hope United, a new church in Georgetown, Texas. Click here to visit Hope United’s website.
