Thankgiving Times 2

 This has to be a Thanksgiving first for us. Last Tuesday as we delivered in the colonias just before the big turkey day, the ladies had a surprise Thanksgiving dinner for all of us - including turkey and all of the trimmings. There were also some delicious flaky pastries that were brought from Monterrey, Mexico,  for the occasion. The ladies had a short devotional and then we all individually stated what we were thankful for. We were thankful that the Lord brought us to this colonia and these wonderful ladies that we call family.  

the ladies serving themselves after making sure we went first

a plateful of  Thanksgiving food

devotional time - this lady in peach is my donut helper

Carmen loves to have her picture taken with Fred

                          Some of the prepackaged boxes from Donald Trump containing dairy products and fruit

As Thursday came around, we chose to have our Thanksgiving dinner delivered for a minimal cost from the park hall. Again, the turkey dinner and all of the trimmings, except that for some reason we were forgotten! After a bit I called the on-site manager and we were then delivered our dinner.  Guess we were on 2 lists and then no one brought ours at first. It was highly welcomed when we finally received it.

It always amazes me that the the poinsettia plant is native to the hot climates and grows into a bush. 

The legend of the poinsettia:

On Christmas Eve a small child in Mexico had no gift to give the Baby Jesus. When the child prayed an angel appeared and said," Whatever you give from your heart will make Jesus happy". So the child picked some weeds as as the child took them to church they changed into a brilliant red bouquet of poinsettia flowers. 

 a poinsettia bush in a neighbor's yard - a bit droopy because we did not have any rain (but it did rain today).

An after Thanksgiving parade was scheduled for Friday - the day after Thanksgiving. Usually we have quite a few people participate, but this year the attendance in the park is so low due to Covid that the parade was a bit short. But folks love to show off  their golf carts (we do have a case of Covid in the  the park right now - the gentleman is in the hospital and his wife is quarantined at home). We also had a gentleman who was only here with his wife from Ohio for only two days and passed away in his sleep on Thursday. 

the most common golf cart

a shelf added to the back

add baggage

a cute gray one

now look at this one

and here comes Santa

Abital was a woman in the Bible who has little or nothing significant about her. She was born in Hebron and was one of David's many wives. Her name means : "whose father is dew", which represents a blessing or consolation. Perhaps her name was chosen by her parents who felt blessed at her birth, or it may figuratively  signify the early death of her father before she was born. Interesting theory. 

Our sermon today was given by Matt Tibbit, our home church youth minister. He is so very energetic and really goes into the depth of tying the sermon to everyday living. He ministers to the junior high and high school kiddos so perhaps that is his way of getting through to them! We do enjoy his preaching. Continuing in the book of Philippians, they did not believe that the death of Jesus on the cross was enough for their salvation. They felt that works had to be included - a belief carried over before the disciples' preaching. These Jewish people could not understand the God wanted them to have a healthy relationship with Him as well as others. They took their old laws and carried them to the extreme. It became a realistic religion as they lost the heart of God. It did not help them to have a healthy relationship. They felt that they needed to elevate themselves above others, thus relationships were lost. Jesus came and His #1 goal was to bring salvation, but also to recapture their hearts. There was the new way, but the old way still remained. The Jewish Christians accepted the new way, but still wanted to keep the Jewish laws and tradition of circumcision to keep the old way. Paul lived his life for Christ after he knew Jesus. He felt he lost his old life but gained a new life in Christ. He was given an opportunity to  know Christ through Jesus regardless of his past accomplishments. He felt that all that went before in his life was rubbish. He told the masses that the life he previously lived was garbage, but when he knew Jesus, his life was changed, He wanted to know Christ, to become like him.  The new life was better than what he had. If you follow Jesus, you may think that you are better than others - caught up in works. If you think you are better, you begin to feel the lost are beneath you. You cannot earn salvation because your works will never be enough. We are all on the same level and get drawn to other believers and well as the lost. We need to see ourselves as we really are. As believers we  have to have faith - not works - and we will gain salvation. We have to humbly pursue the cross. What we gain in Christ is worth more than what we lost. Lean hard into Jesus by having Him in your heart.