Ready to be thankful! Colossians 2:6-8

Good morning everyone,
Tomorrow is a day for all of us to celebrate as a nation about being thankful!  I'm not sure everybody that you or I know will have the same opportunity to have a big meal with all of the trimmings.  It should also be a time when we thank God for all that He has provided!  You may say that you don't have much to be thankful for but I would beg to differ.  No matter what you may be going through, I would like to remind you that your Lord and Savior is still there to love you in the midst of any suffering that you are enduring!  He will give you reason to celebrate even in the midst of pain and suffering.  If He celebrated while carrying the cross, shouldn't we celebrate all the more knowing that He is there to carry us until our lives have finished?  Even a brain tumor cannot stop my friend Scott from celebrating the victory of eternal life over death!  Just like Jesus rose on the third day, Scott is shining for Jesus even though he has been given a death sentence.  He has been promised that he will be sharing eternity with the Father.  In fact, we all have been given a death sentence and in the scope of eternity, we will all sit down at some point and have a personal conversation with our Maker.  Some will have that conversation quicker than others.  Let me encourage you to shine for Jesus as you approach Thanksgiving and do something extra special for folks who feel as though they are already dead!  Your act of thankfulness and compassion may be the turning point for individuals who have given up to see that Jesus loves them too!  Colossians 2:6-8 says, 'So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.  See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.'  Happy Thanksgiving and don't forget to include Christ in your festivities as you celebrate why you are thankful!
Your brother in Christ,
p