So Much To Be Thankful For

From Woodstock To Eternity might not seem like a candidate for a great Thanksgiving book, but it really is.

First, consider the setting on the Mayflower as the Pilgrims embark for their journey away from the Old Country to go to the New World

Imagine the wharf where the Pilgrims loaded all their earthly belongings on the Mayflower to sail to the New World.  What was going through their minds as they contemplated leaving not just their friends and families, but the only world they knew – a whole continent?  They left a civilized society that had developed over eons to go to a land no one had ever seen. 

Mayflower

Then the day and the hour came when they drove their animals on board, carried all they could take up the ramp to the boat, settled into their places in the hold and headed off into the Western expanse.  The great sails went up, and the waves slapped against the hull of the magnificent vessel as they lined up along the rails.  Straining to absorb every last detail of the skyline, they took one last gaze at the vanishing European land mass.  All that they knew became smaller and smaller as it receded into the emptiness behind them.  They turned to soak up the scene ahead, and there was only the sea and the horizon, the bow of the mighty ship rising and falling with the swells.  From now on, all they had were their dreams and a determination to conquer the unknown.

We know they were thankful that they made it. They realized their dreams and conquered the unknown. And they gave God the glory.

Dustin Morgan is also he made it in the final chapters of the book.

Soon, the guitar strikes up the chords, and the whole house fills with the joyful music.  Everybody sings it out with all their might, clapping the island beat, and a big grin spreads across Morgan’s face.

“I finally made it!  I really did.  I made it to the other side, and I don’t feel bored.  On the contrary, this is probably the best I have felt in a long, long time.”

He also made it from the Old Country to the New World in Christ.

Now that I am living in the Heavenly Country, here are some things I am thankful for.

A lovely, faithful wife who goes with me chasing my rainbows

Seven fantastic children who make me very, very proud

Six (and counting) grandchildren – all boys so far.

A life of deliverance, free from the chains of sin

May God richly bless each of you this Thanksgiving!!!

The Christian’s Bond Through the Ages: Mar’s Hill to Grenada

Phillip in Samaria  Acts 8:6-8  “And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.”

Peter at Cornelius’s house  Acts 10:44 “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word”

What do you suppose it felt like to be in the streets of Samaria, or in Cornelius’s house when the Holy Spirit fell? It sounds like a far off fantasy, doesn’t it? It’s in the Bible, so it was 2,000 years ago, and everything was different back then. That means people felt differently back then right? No! Of course not! Their love was the same as we feel, their fear was the same fear, their joy was the same joy. They just had to experience them without electricity and running water.

Whenever there is a revival, the same Holy Spirit falls. George Whitefield had a booming voice and preached a message of holiness to tens of thousands in the American colonies. Ben Franklin estimated a crowd in Philadelphia to be over 80,000 people! Jonathan Edwards read his sermon called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and people moaned out loud, “what shall I do to be saved.”

In “From Woodstock To Eternity” Dustin Morgan is in Grenada and witnesses the Holy Spirit fall in response to the preaching of the Word.

While they are singing, many locals gather around to listen or join in, clapping along in their rhythmical, island beat.  Suddenly, Pastor Terry steps out in the open air and starts to proclaim a message about the saving power of Jesus.  They are having a revival right here in the middle of the street!  A couple of local islanders raise their hand to get saved and walk up to the Pastor.  He lays his hands on their heads and they bow in prayer.  Dustin whispers in Lisa’s ear,

“I tell you what, I never would have seen anything like this in my old days.  I feel like we are experiencing something that has been going on for centuries.  I bet people felt the same Spirit when George Whitefield was preaching in the colonies, or even when Paul was on Mars Hill in Athens.  I had no idea being a Christian would be anything like this.”

Isn’t it something? When we get saved, or filled with the Spirit, or feel God’s presence, we feel the same Holy Spirit that people felt in the Bible – or in The Great Awakening – or in Cornelius’s house! Just pull up a chair, listen to Peter and start speaking in tongues… it’s that easy, and it’s part of our bond. The fellowship of believers spans the ages.

Have you ever felt like you are in the middle of a battle?

We are always being pulled in separate directions.  Most of the time, we don’t think about it.  We go about our daily lives and believe we are merely making our own decisions.  However, every thought and attitude is motivated by one force or another.  In this political season, a great deal of focus is being given to knowing our enemy.

Good & Evil pulling apart

Either the Spirit of Christ is thinking through us, or the enemy of our souls is calling the shots.  This is a silent battle, most of the time.  But when push comes to shove, we can feel like we are being torn apart.

Dustin Morgan experiences this phenomenon in the book “From Woodstock To Eternity” when he is offered a job to fly marijuana from Jamaica.

pro pilot

“When he made his confession of Christ, he entered into a

stack of money

spiritual realm he didn’t know existed.  He received the Holy Spirit as an on-board Teacher to drive his conscience toward doing the right thing.  But unknown to him, he had another battalion of demons, commanded by their leader, Legion, who were determined to make him do the wrong thing.”

Making the choice

For all Christians, we have the amazing gift of an on board Teacher from Heaven.  All we have to do is ask for advice and we get it!  There is only one catch.  We have to be open to what the Holy Spirit says in order for it to do us any good.  It doesn’t work when we allow ourselves to hang on to old desires.  If we are not willing to abandon our own inclinations, Legion is more than willing to step in.

So the choice is ours.  It all depends on who we appoint to call the shots.

The Teacher from Heaven

or

The Tempter from you know where

Does God Physically Intervene in our Lives?

In Psalm 91, God says he will deliver us from pestilence, plague, attacks from our enemies, and guide us in such a way that we will avoid all these things.  We don’t know how he does it.  It’s invisible to us in a spiritual realm.  The Bible talks about His right hand and the Spirit doing mighty works, but it also says a lot about angels.

Psalm 91:11-12   For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.  In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.

This sounds so out of bounds, that people use this as a reason to call the Bible a “book of fairy tales,” and so on.  Many, if not most Christians, find it hard to believe these extra – terrestrial beings are real and have any tangible influence in our activities.

In “From Woodstock To Eternity,” Dustin Morgan has a few encounters with the other realm, so to speak, and God’s hand is introduced throughout the book, showing that He has always been there to bring Dustin around.  In one hair raising incident, he is about to crash his pot laden plane into the trees when God calls two angels to go to his aid.

Up in the heavenly Control Room, Jesus is watching all this and shaking His head.  He calls two of His angels, Clarence and Fred, and explains their assignment to them.

“Do you see Dustin down there, getting ready to crash into those trees?  He’s really been

a hard nut to crack.  I saved him back in Texas, but he’s making it awfully hard on himself.  Legion’s got him all twisted up in knots.  Now, I’ve got a plan for his life, and he can’t kill himself before he accomplishes it, so I’m going to have to send you two down there to help him out.  Clarence, you’ve done some of this kind of work before, but you’re going to need Fred here for backup.”

Now, this is probably not exactly how it happened, but Morgan’s plane did regain engine power, and it did fly over the trees.  The problem with so many of the inexplicable things in our lives is that we don’t know if it was God, or an angel, or what.  But there is a key to gaining access to Him

Ask – Seek – Knock                                 More about this later.