Not Your Typical Thanksgiving Day Post

Today is Thanksgiving, and I have much for which to be grateful. However, that's not what this post is going to be about.

I've never been a huge fan of holidays, but Thanksgiving sickens me. Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger, and it is estimated that around 800 million people in the world go hungry every day.

Please check out this website, it won't take more than a minute, and it updated in real time: http://www.stopthehunger.com/

Ridiculous.

When I have a family of my own, I don't want to celebrate Thanksgiving in the traditional way. Sure, it's great to get together and have a nice meal, there's nothing wrong with that, but to gorge oneself to the point that most people do is just flat out gluttony. And the worst part of hunger is that it won't kill you right away, oh no, it tortures and torments you for a long, long time. Hunger is a pain unlike any other; one that many people can't even begin to understand. So many people are suffering greatly while we cook enough food to eat for days, and even then end up throwing leftovers out.

Imagine yourself in the D.R. where I or some other third world country. Now imagine trying to explain Thanksgiving to the people over there. Tell them of your yearly holiday devoted to food where you eat until you pass out on the couch. Can you see the look on their faces?

Now comes part two of my rant: As I was watching the Packers game, some of my relatives were talking about how much it would cost the Bears to get a certain new coach. Millions of dollars, and that's just for one year. Millions of dollars to coach people who play a GAME professionally. I love sports, don't get me wrong, but there is something seriously distorted about these numbers. I literally feel a bit like throwing up thinking about how many people we could help feed, clothe, and educate with that money (and trust me, that's not from eating too much because I didn't).

Think about how much of your food you waste on a daily or weekly basis and then think of the money also wasted. Now think of the money you waste on other stupid, petty things like football. In the time it took you to do that, several people died of hunger. I urge you, nay, I beg you, use your resources wisely. We have been blessed to bless others. From now on, think about Thanksgiving differently, act differently. Try feeding others instead of focusing on yourself.

"At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality" - 2 Corinthians 8:14

Does your giving reflect this? Or do you not trust God to provide for you if you give generously? Make a choice to act.

Reflect the Glory of the Lord

Sorry it's been over a month since my last post. Life has been a bit crazy, and last week I was really struggling. Today, however, I could not resist posting.

I was in my Foundations of Christian Thought discussion group this morning and we were talking about the new-atheism movement that is becoming extremely prominent and what exactly that particular worldview entails.

Then the thought struck me: atheists are not the biggest opposition to Christianity; "Christians" are. Those lukewarm Christians who do not live out their faith are a bigger stumbling block to non-believers than vehement atheists. We all know the people who call themselves Christians, but to them it's nothing more than a title; the ones who don't really care about their relationship with God but still throw around the word Christian. It's those people who defer non-believers from Christianity the most.

People look to Christians to live set apart lives, and when they see people not living any differently than others, they become disgusted with the Christian faith and get a distorted view of Christianity. While intellectual atheists are a danger to uninformed non-believers and new Christians, the largest greatest obstacle to these people is the poor example and lukewarm nature of the so-called Christian world.

It is, therefore, our solemn duty to "Live in a manner worthy of the calling you have received." Eph. 4:1 We must be set apart, not only because it is what God has called us to do, but because we are constantly under a microscope - the world looks to us for an example, and our lives must reflect the glory and perfection of the Lord.