A while back someone asked me, “Did you ever regret your calling?”  What he means was whether I had ever had a second thought about being a minister of the Gospel.  I replied, no.  The only time I wish I were not, was when our children turned away from God.  I wished I were not in ministry, particularly family ministry, because I did not think I was qualified to be one.  I just did not want to be a stumbling block to others. I never had a second thought for any other reasons.

From time to time, I think about who I was and what I would have become if Jesus Our Blessed Savior had not reached out to me.  Of course, I cannot answer with certainty, but this is what I can say with certainty: I know what I would have missed out. I would have missed out talking to Christ My Lord heart to heart.  I would have missed out being blessed by His Holy Word whenever I hear it or read it.  I would have missed out the experience of being loved and treated so specially.  I would have missed out on having a clear and true meaning and purpose in life.  These are the things that I would have missed out on, had He not reached down and pulled me up.

Thanksgiving Day reminds us not only to be thankful for all that we have received from God and our fellow life’s travelers, but it also reminds us to say thank you, not only with words, but also—and primarily—with works. You see, God always gives us opportunities to say thank you, but the best we can do is just to say it with words. No, He wants to hear it said with works and He wants to hear it said through our effort to meet the needs that He sends on our way. 

Oswald Chambers reminds us, “The overflowing grace of God has no limits, and we have to set no limits to it.”  Oh, how often do we do just that, don’t we?  When it comes to us, we ask God to pour it all out but when it comes to others, we trickle it down drip by drip.      

Pastor Paul