A Year of Thanksgiving

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, we are often reminded to remember all of the things we are thankful for. But how long does that reminder stay in our hearts?? A day, week, or maybe two. I an offering all of you a challenge – let us make this a year of Thanksgiving. I am a list maker. I have all sorts of lists, from things to do, things to pray for, goals to accomplish, etc. Once, on a long road trip, I challenged the other couple, in another vehicle, to name all the songs they could with the name of a city in it. I set a time limit and we all put our brains to work. Some of the ones we listed we duplicates, some were long forgotten songs. I still have that list in my small purse notebook. Anyway, what I was getting to, make a list every single day for a year of the things that you are thankful for – but be specific.  If you are thankful for your family, pick a family member and give thanks for 1 particular thing in regards to that relative. (If you have a large family you are covered for a few days). If you are thankful for blessings from the Lord, list a specific blessing per day. You will be surprised as to the fact that you will easily find something to be thankful for every day! The challenge is on – start today.

A reporter, Eryn, from a newspaper geared towards Winter Texans rode along with us on Friday as we picked up vegetables and delivered them to the colonias. Eryn is doing an article on Caring Hearts Ministry – the article to focus on the ministry and not on us. We picked her up at 6:30 in the morning and headed to Border Missions for our pick-up. It was a bit of a wait, as we do not start loading until 8, but we get there early as to be timely in line and not have to wait a long time. We were 3^rd this Friday – not bad at all. Eryn took a lot of photos there, as well as when we entered the colonia. The volunteer ladies were glad to see her, welcomed her, and just went on with their work as she photographed all of the action there. We were lucky to receive an abundance of food, as we handed out 130 baskets of food – equivalent to 130 families. We also served turkey sandwiches, a crunchy snack, sort of a spice cake, and a drink to everyone who came to pick up food, as well as all of the volunteers. It was a busy morning and we eventually dropped Eryn off at her car at 12 noon!! She is going to let us know when the article is to be published, as all of the ladies want to have a copy.

We did take time this last week for a day of relaxation as we traveled with friends to Boca Chica to the SpaceX Launch station to see what was going on there and if there were any new developments. We were informed that we only had 45minutes until the road was going to be closed due to operations going on – the changing of fuel and testing of engines. We had time to take a few pictures, and drive a few feet to the beach for a view of Padre Island across the bay. After picking up a few shells, we drove back to Port Isabell to our favorite Island restaurant but found it closed. There is another one also owned by Dirty Al on S Padre Island so we went there (the atmosphere is not as nice as the one in Port Isabell, but it is right on the bay and is also a fresh seafood market. After relaxing with our usual meal of huge Gulf shrimp, we headed out to the beach for a while. We fed the sea gulls (my favorite thing to do as they are such cute and feisty birds) picked a few shells, and sat in our chairs on the beach for about an hour just enjoying the beautiful day. It was indeed a great day. We heard that on the following day, one of the rockets had blown up during testing! Wow – we were glad we went the day before.
                                              

    the firing area

 closeup of the capsule

another firing area

beautiful day at the beach

S Padre in the distance - a bit foggy that day

the wall in the background

We received a call from a fellow chaplain who wanted to know if we had any need for a brand new wheelchair. We contacted Ida who informed us of a lady in the colonias who had knee surgery and needed a wheelchair as she had no insurance and Medicare would not pay for it. It was delivered almost immediately and will be used until she is mobile again which time it will be passed onto someone else in need (there is already a waiting list). God always knows our needs before we do. Ida told us she was praying for hams or the funds for hams so that everyone we serve could have a small ham for Christmas. The following day we received 104 hams with the promise of more to come!!Another proof of God’s ability to provide before we even know!!

Today was another beautiful day with a clear sky and lots of sunshine, although it started out a bit cool. We attend Pastor Jim Maxon’s church again this morning and listened to a sermon about a subject seldom heard taken from the Gospel of Luke 16:19-31. We can tell jokes and laugh about Hell as much as we want to. Even some theologians even deny the concept of Hell, but Hell is real. Ignoring the fact or truth does not change the fact that Hell exists. What is truth for others is not often truth for us. A child may believe he can fly (in his mind this is the truth) but in reality we know for a fact that it is not true. Feel good churches do not want to talk about Hell. Hell is a reality and is a real place. The scripture from Luke clearly shows that Hell is real. Just as we go to the Lord immediately after death, so does a soul go immediately go to Hell. There is good in Hell – yes – you heard right – good in Hell. There are “good “people in Hell. Reality check- a “good” people do not all go to heaven. Hell may be full of good people but only saved people go to Heaven. There are actually good prayers in Hell. In the above mentioned scripture, the rich man prayed for himself and his family. We all need to pray for ourselves first – not for favors but that we have a rightful spirit in prayer. There are even good intentions and evangelism in Hell. The rich man wanted someone from the dead to talk to his brothers in order for them to repent and be saved from damnation. Hell is a place of torment. The fire is so hot that the rich man begged for a drop of water from the finger of the beggar who had sat outside his door on earth – a dirty, disease infected beggar. Just a drop of water from his dirty infected hand was what the rich man desired. When a person sees and realizes when his cast into Hell that it certainly not a good place to be. A person is condemned to Hell for eternity – a place of no 2^nd chances. Just as we who are saved will be spending eternity in Heaven. God does not hear prayers from Hell – it is a place of regret as salvation is lost, Hell was not prepared for man – it was prepared for the Devil and his angels. Revelation 21_7-8 says of the ones who are saved, “I will be his God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, , as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be will be in the lake which burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death. Where is your final destination?

We wish everyone a very happy and safe thanksgiving, and don’t forget my Challenge!!