Upcoming Discipleship Classes - December 5-6

Hello fellow Steele Creekers,

I want to make special invitation for you to attend the upcoming Discipleship Classes.
Charlie Crowley and I are interested in taking the class for studying the Word.
David Long is an excellent teacher and the Lord is leading me to do inductive studies of the Bible.

With the recent events one might consider the class called Oneness.

Please pray with me for those taking the D-1 class.

My Thanksgiving 2008

My Thanksgiving 2008
Colossians 3:15-17 (New King James Version)

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. 17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Thank you, Stuart, for calling me this morning with this Scripture. It Blessed me beyond measure.

I reviewed the Thanksgiving message that email out to everyone last year. Boy, I've grown a lot in the Lord this year. Reflection is a theme of this Holiday, a Holy day.

Juan invited to come to be with him and his family today. My heart aches because I wish could be in with everyone today. Juan and I share in our struggles with employment.

I am remembering passed Thanksgiving Holidays with my Mother and my older sister Beth. In 1985 Beth over did the festivities of the meal because of the recent passing of Mom. Dad had a big project to do because the oven had be replaced to make the event happen. Dad always comes through. As for me that year I was in so much pain in secret, almost like quiet desperation. Remembering the pass reminds me on my Love today.

Its going to me to be hard to call my niece, Marissa and and my nephew, Stone, today. I'm holding back tears because so much miss my sister Beth around the Holidays.

I wish I could be with my Dad and my brother, Michael, in Florida today. However, duty calls tomorrow. I should be grateful for a little work even though I know testing coming soon.

I hope to call my sister, Cheryl, and her husband Lee in South Jersey to remind them of the reason for the season. I'm sure they will cringe inside, its my little tradition with her. I love my little sister and so does Jesus Christ, the Lord of the Universe.

To all my cousins, aunts and uncles out there I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving today. Check out my family photos online: http://picasaweb.google.com/kingdan.610 . Let's get together sometime soon.

The Philadelphia Eagles is such a love/hate relationship. Andy Ried screwed up McNabb's head. What happen to running quarterback that I loved to watch? Andy is eating too many Tastycakes and Cheese Steaks! Then that bum Jeffery Lurie goes and invites stinking Joe Biden into the owner's box. The bums!!! Green and Silver forever, but I want change now! Well there's always next year. Ok I feel better now.

Well, going to eat some fowl bird now. What turkey am I.

God Bless you all today and Happy Thanksgiving.

Fwd: Happy Thanksgiving!

From: David Merideth <>
Date: Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 3:21 AM
Subject: Happy Thanksgiving!
To:

The following is an article which I clipped from a newsletter which I receive. It's a good reminder and a deeper look into the history of the Thanksgiving holiday. More than I had ever learned in school. It's an even more insightful to look at how much our congress has changed in the last 67 years.

I pray that this email finds each of you in true "Thanksgiving", and in the spirit of which the holiday was declared.

Abiding,

David

SQUANTO - THE PILGRIM'S GOD-SEND

"Measured by the standards of men of their time, were the humble of the earth. Measured by later accomplishments, they were the mighty. In appearance weak and persecuted they came -- rejected, despised -- an insignificant band; in reality strong and independent, a mighty host of whom the world was not worthy destined to free mankind." - Calvin Coolidge

Cold and sick, fighting snow and sleet, a motley band of English men and women struggled through their first winter in the New World. Fewer than 50 of the 110 pilgrims and crew that had stepped off the Mayflower survived until spring. On their own, the Pilgrims would have likely all perished their first year on the coast of New England.

God had better plans for them.

In March of 1621, a loincloth-covered native stepped out of the woods and said, "Welcome" in clear English. Samoset, the chief of the Algonquins, had learned English from the fishing ships that occasionally put into the coast of Maine. A few days later he returned to the little Pilgrim village with another English speaking native named Tisquantum (aka "Squanto").

When the Pilgrims arrived in late 1620, they settled on cleared land that belonged to nobody. Squanto's entire tribe had been wiped out while he was in England after having been taken as a slave in 1605. After returning to his native homeland with Captain John Smith in 1614, Squanto was again kidnapped and taken to Spain, where he was bought by local friars and introduced to Christianity. When he returned home, he found his tribe gone and the land that had belonged to them shunned by other tribes. He wandered until he found the Wampanoags who lived about 50 miles to the southwest.

And so, Squanto proved to be a literal God-send for the Pilgrims. He stayed with them and taught them how to stalk deer and catch eels and plant corn the Indian way. He showed them how to refine maple syrup and to discern which wild plants were edible and which were poisonous. He introduced them to trapping beavers, the pelts of which were in high demand in Europe. Without his help, few of the Pilgrims would have survived.

By the autumn of 1621, the Pilgrims were well-prepared for the coming winter and extremely grateful to God, to the Wampanoags, and to Squanto. Governor Bradford declared a day of public thanksgiving to be held in October. They invited Massasoit, the Wapanoags' chief, to a feast to celebrate their bounty. The Wapanoags taught the Pilgrims the art of making popcorn and the Pilgrims introduced the Indians to fruit pies.

The Pilgrims had additional days of thanksgiving for God's provision during the next years of difficulty and hunger, but we remember these days of feasting and games and competitions in our Thanksgiving celebrations. God had shown He cared for this little band of persecuted Englishmen in search of religious and civil freedom.

There have been several days of thanksgiving since the time of the Pilgrims.

1777: Samuel Adams made a "Thanksgiving day" proclamation that was adopted by all 13 states:

"It is therefore recommended... to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn Thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feelings of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their divine benefactor..."

October, 1789: President George Washington proclaimed Thursday the Twenty-sixth day of November to be a day of national thanksgiving to Almighty God.

October, 1863: President Abraham Lincoln announced that the last Thursday of November would be dedicated "as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens."

Finally, an act of Congress in 1941 dedicated the fourth Thursday of November for the purpose of thanking our Creator.

Even as our forefathers acknowledged the provision and goodness of God, let us also make this national holiday a very special time to thank Him for our own provision - our families, our sustenance and, above all, our redemption in His Son!