King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under heaven. As we celebrate Thanksgiving Sunday, it’s time for us to remember God’s faithfulness in our lives and express our gratitude to Him. We have so many reasons to thank God because we enjoy God’s abundant blessings that many around the world are not able to benefit from. Last week we watched a video of a brother in Laos who went through 10 years of persecution because of his faith. How can we not thank God that we don’t have to worry about anyone or anything coming after us when we gather together to worship God?
There is an old hymn written by Johnson Oatman, Jr. The refrain goes like this
“Count your blessings, name them one by one
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”
It’s a simple hymn that reminds us how important it is to count the blessings God has bestowed upon us. Just like the Israelites in the wilderness, our lives are filled with discontentment. We easily forget what God has done in our lives as if we are suffering from a spiritual Alzheimer’s disease. We grumble about what we don’t have and even our prayer lists are full of things that we want. Let’s count our blessings as we go through the Thanksgiving week. Share with your families and friends of amazing things God has done in your life.
What are you looking forward to this year’s Thanksgiving week? I’ve been getting countless emails of black Friday sale ads at various shopping centers and websites. And I have to admit I’ve been looking at every single website and ads to see if there are good deals out there. They were just too hard to resist. Lord, help us! Are you looking forward to watching and playing football? I know that some of our young adult members will be playing in a flag football tournament this weekend and many people will be watching football games on TV.
My family will have a Thanksgiving luncheon with a small group of people. I miss having large gatherings on Thanksgiving Day with my extended family. This year will be the second year of not having a pot luck luncheon with my grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Ever since my grandmother passed away we stopped meeting as a big group and I have to admit that I miss it very much. I will also miss my brother as well because this will be our first Thanksgiving without him. He was usually the one who initiated family gatherings and our family surely will miss him very much.
There is a new tradition that started with Reina being born on Thanksgiving Day four years ago. We will be celebrating Reina’s birthday when we have our family gather on Thanksgiving Day. God has been so faithful to Reina over the last 4 years. She’s has grown up to a beautiful young girl and my wife and I know that it was because of our awesome parenting skills. Ryan is so strong and healthy as well. As many of you know, Ryan loves eating and we love feeding and watching him eat especially when he puts on a cheesy smile after being satisfied over food. And the list goes on and on. Thank you Lord! 

From Pastor Brian’s Heart
November 18, 2012

It dawned on me a couple days ago that Thanksgiving is less than 2 weeks away!  That means the most stressful time of the year for me - the time between Thanksgiving and the New Year - is fast approaching.  When I was younger, Thanksgiving as well as other holidays used to stir up excitement and nostalgic emotions in anticipation of big family gatherings and subsequent feasts.  However, since I’ve married and become a daughter-in-law in an ever-expanding family – 34 family members over four generations and still growing – this time of the year has traditionally been an anxious and stressful time for me.  As much as I enjoy spending time with my family members, I do not look forward to the many hours of house cleaning, grocery shopping, cooking, gift buying, gift wrapping, more cooking, and more cleaning. 
And it does not help that December is one of the busiest months of the year ministry-wise.  With various Christmas and end of the year programs and services along with the Timothy Winter Retreat, I have to confess that I don’t feel as peaceful and joyful as I should.  As special and important as each of these events is, it can definitely be a case of too much of a good thing.  I consider it a privilege and honor to be a woman pastor, but during times like this, I find it really challenging to balance my time between fulfilling my role as a mother and a daughter-in-law and being a dedicated pastor.
I realize that this struggle, however, is not unique to me, but is shared by all working women who try to balance their time between their family and work.  The age-old debate between stay-at-home mothers vs. working mothers is a very sensitive one.  As a mother who’s always worked outside the home while my children were growing up, I have mixed feelings about the topic. I do not believe one option is necessarily better than the other.  I’ve observed many mothers at our church over the years on both sides of the fence, but have not been able to form a definitive opinion on the heated debate.  I can, however, say pretty comfortably, that a mother’s influence on her child does not proportionally correlate to the amount of time she spends with her child, her highest level of education, or her financial resources.  Mothers who are able to exert their Godly influences the most, thereby helping build a solid foundation of faith that their children can build upon, are the ones who are confident about and content with being unconditionally loved by the King!
This will be the very first Thanksgiving that I will be celebrating without my mother since she passed away back in February.  I miss her very much, and Thanksgiving dinner will never be the same without her. My mother was not well-educated or rich.  She did not have any worldly accomplishments, and she was sick a lot throughout her life.  By the world’s standards she did not have much to offer to her children.  However, she knew who she was in Christ. She never pretended to be someone she was not or to have what she did not possess.  She was confident about her salvation by grace through her faith in Jesus Christ and was thankful for the littlest things in life despite her struggles. Her attitude of thanksgiving and contentment in Christ left an indelible mark upon her children.  I hope and pray to influence my children as much as my mother did.  So as stressful as it is to be a married woman with children and a pastor during this busy season, I thank God that He created me to be a woman. I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

From Pastor Sara’s Heart
November 11, 2012