Happy Thanksgivukkah!

 Happy Thanksgiving!

O, give thanks to the LORD,
for He is good;
for His lovingkindness is everlasting
(1 Chronicles 15:34)

Dinner is at 5
The table is set
The turkey is in the oven
The bread is rising
Mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, green bean bundles,
cranberry salad, yammy pie,  pumpkin bread,
Texas pecan pie......
It's all about ready.

This is our third Thanksgiving in North Dakota.
(Where has the time gone?)
The first year I would have been
one mess of a lonely granny
had it not been for our neighbors inviting us over
for a  North Dakota, Norwegian
Thanksgiving Dinner.

Last year we invited some other temporary transplants
who needed to get out of their trailers for a day.

And this year, our guest list is four other
oil field workers who are away from home.
Coming tonight are an Australian, a Thai, a Russian
and....drumroll....
an unexpected guest from Hometown, Texas.

I love Thanksgiving.....
It's all about

Being thankful

It's beginnings are rooted in Religion

It was started by a group seeking Religious Refuge in America

It's a great reason to be with family

It's a great excuse to overeat wonderfully rich food

And it's a time to be thankful

A day like today won't happen again for another

79,000 years!

This year, Hanukkah falls on Thanksgiving Day!

79,000 years - Wow!

Happy Hanukkah!

Hanukkah.....

from what my research tells me is...

All about being thankful

Rooted in religion

Celebrated by a group who have sought

 Religious refuge in America

A great reason to be with family

A great excuse to overeat wonderfully rich food

And a time to be thankful

(Did I say that already?)

So in honor of one of our international dinner guests,

who actually did seek refuge in America 

from Russian religious persecution

a couple of decades ago,

I'm trying my hand at some traditional Jewish food.

So if you'll excuse me now, 

I'm going to grate some potatoes for 

LATKE

Happy Thanksgivukkah!

Y'all

Dream Trickles

How does it start?

Where does it begin?

The Great 

The Successful

The Big Business

The International Ministry

The Mission

It seems it's just always been there

Grand and Beautiful 

Ebbing and Flowing

the tides of success rolling in and out

seemingly without end.

The rushing rivers of hard work

and perseverance and patience

that have flowed into it

can't be seen from there.

You have to back up to see them.

These rivers transport life and
provide refreshment and growth.

But where did the river begin?

Has is always been too wide to wade across?

Did it start that way?

Did other rivers of inspiration merge into it?

Maybe somewhere along the way, 

it wasn't alone,

but in another larger body of water

influenced and encouraged to start out on its own.

Beginning as a small stream

of ideas and dreams

that came when one Aha! Moment of a thought

dripped into a heart

and a dream trickle began it's course.

Here in Itasca State Park, Minnesota,

1475 feet above sea level, 

the mighty Mississippi River

begins to flow on it's winding way

2552 miles to the Gulf of Mexico.

Ezekiel 47:1-12

Now he brought me back to the entrance to the Temple.  I saw water pouring out from under the Temple porch to the east.  The water poured from the south side of the Temple, south of the altar.  he then took me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the gate complex on the east.  The water was gushing from under the south front of the Temple. 

 He walked to the east with a measuring tape and measured off fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water that was knee-deep.  He measured off another fifteen hundred feet, leading me through water waist-deep.  He measured off another fifteen hundred feet.  By now it was a river over my head, water to swim in, water no one could possible walk through.

He said, "Son of man, have you had a good look?"

Then he took me back to the riverbank.  While sitting on the bank, I noticed a lot of trees on both sides of the river.

He told me, "This water flows east, descends to the Arabah and then into the sea, the sea of stagnant waters.  When it empties into those waters, the sea will become fresh.  Wherever the river flows life will flourish - great schools of fish - because the river is turning the salt sea into fresh water.  Where the river flows, life abounds.  Fishermen will stand shoulder to shoulder along the shore from En-gedi all the way north to En-eglaim, casting their nets.  The sea will teem with fish of all kinds, like the fish of the Great Mediterranean.

The swamps and marshes won't become fresh, they'll stay salty.

But the river itself, on both banks, will grow fruit trees of all kinds.  Their leaves won't wither, the fruit won't fail.  Every month they'll bear fresh fruit because the river from the Sanctuary flows to them.  Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."

This is for you who have held that drop of a dream

in your heart, winding your way,

picking up steam

and are seeing the fruit

of those healing trees and refreshing waters 

along the banks.

You know who you are.

And it's for you whose dream is still just a 

a drip, a drop, a trickle, a stream,

a crik, or a creek

hang on and don't give up hope.

You know who you are, too.

We look forward to enjoying

 the refreshing benefits of your rivers.

"If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Rivers of living water

will brim and spill

out of the depths of anyone

 who believes in me..."

John 7:38 (The Message)