READ: ACTS 20:27-44
On a boat in the middle of a terrible ocean storm, the 267 people on Paul’s ship had a picnic. They gave thanks and shared a meal. Isn’t that how we got Thanksgiving to begin with? A storm blew the Mayflower way off course, and instead of the coast of Virginia, they landed in frozen Massachusetts. The winter storm snuffed out the lives of more than half the people who stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock. At one point, there were only seven healthy folks out if the original 102. The daily ration of food got down to five kernels of corn per person per day. When they gathered around the Thanksgiving table, all of them could see up on the hillside cemetery the graves of loved ones they had buried. And yet, they bowed their heads and thanked God for His bountiful goodness to them. Our ancestors threw a picnic in the storm. Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in the worst days of the Civil War. He threw a picnic in a storm. It’s our heritage that no matter what is going on around us, good or bad, we pause to rejoice, to celebrate, and to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving is a reminder that no matter what the storms of life around us, we have a safe harbor in God.
On a boat in the middle of a terrible ocean storm, the 267 people on Paul’s ship had a picnic. They gave thanks and shared a meal. Isn’t that how we got Thanksgiving to begin with? A storm blew the Mayflower way off course, and instead of the coast of Virginia, they landed in frozen Massachusetts. The winter storm snuffed out the lives of more than half the people who stepped ashore on Plymouth Rock. At one point, there were only seven healthy folks out if the original 102. The daily ration of food got down to five kernels of corn per person per day. When they gathered around the Thanksgiving table, all of them could see up on the hillside cemetery the graves of loved ones they had buried. And yet, they bowed their heads and thanked God for His bountiful goodness to them. Our ancestors threw a picnic in the storm. Abraham Lincoln made Thanksgiving a national holiday in the worst days of the Civil War. He threw a picnic in a storm. It’s our heritage that no matter what is going on around us, good or bad, we pause to rejoice, to celebrate, and to give thanks to God. Thanksgiving is a reminder that no matter what the storms of life around us, we have a safe harbor in God.
– Dr. Tim Thompson