Thanksgiving handout

Our church gave away over 350 Thanksgiving dinners last night. Each of these dinners was a big box filled with supplies and foodstuffs to prepare a family feast for four, at least. As people signed up in advance they would tell us how many are in their family, and we would adjust the amount of food accordingly. They got a Turkey of course, but then they got an amazing array of goodies to add to the feast - I was working elsewhere so I don't have an exact list, but it was something like this:

• Stuffing seasoning
• Bread
• Turkey Gravy (couple of cans)
• Vegetables
• Fruit
• Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes
• Can of anti-stick ("Pam") spray
• Dinner Rolls
• Cans of soup - to make casseroles and to make extra meals
• Jello mix
• Pudding mix
• There were more items - some random gifts from local businesses, and other items I simply can't recall.

Again, I was not in the room as the items were being prepared, and I didn't go pick things up as I have in years past, so the list above may be off here or there - if you know better, please let me know and I will fine tune it gladly!

We had a new feature in our hand-out this year: we ran a quick service as people were waiting. We had a line out into the parking lot, and as fast as we could sign people in (we asked for a call to the office to reserve a box in advance so we could plan better) we escorted the people in groups into the church were the band played up-tempo tunes and the Pastor gave a brief message of hope and encouragement. He ended by offering to pray over the people, and we had counselors standing by in a side room if anyone wanted to reaffirm their faith in Jesus or if anyone needed special prayer for healing. It became a blur as we played non-stop from just after four till just after eight, so I don't know how many groups we had through the place, but in each and every group there were people who said, "yes, I want Jesus in my life," or perhaps, "Yes, I want Jesus back in my life again."

It was so amazing! And there were smiles everywhere! I was so proud of the people of our church for making our neighbors into new friends. We strove to not make them feel like this was a burden, to be helping them this way, and we also wanted them to know that they were very welcome here. We were glad they came, and we were glad to be able to help them in these ways.

OK - I may have spent too much time on the details. I wanted to share a paraphrase of Pastor Tony Cervero's message last night. He changed it up, and didn't use the same one with each group, and I have heard them all before (He has been my pastor for the past 16 years) but it was so powerful, that I wanted to share it here:

Pastor Tony said, "What's this?" (Holding up a twenty-dollar bill)
People - "money, twenty bucks, cash, etc."
Pastor - "What's it worth?"
People - murmuring..
Pastor - "No, this is not a trick question, I simply mean, what is this bill worth?"
People - "twenty dollars."
Pastor - "Yes - twenty dollars. Now - what if I wad it up?"
He wadded the bill up into a tiny little ball. He really worked at it. He got it into a little bitty thing. Then he asked, "OK, NOW how much is it worth?"
Poeple - "twenty bucks?"
Pastor - "yeah - you're right: it's still worth twenty bucks. Now how about if I toss it on the floor, and stomp it as flat as I can?"
He then proceeded to do exactly that - and the thing got smaller and even more crumpled up. It didn't even look like a piece of paper anymore. "Now how much is it worth?" He asked.
People, quietly - "twenty bucks."
Pastor - "God values you above all of creation. He sent His son to die for you. He loves you. And even if your life has gotten crumpled up, messed up or whatever, you are still worth everything to God. You have not lost any of your value, in the eyes of your loving heavenly Father."

I can remember the first time I heard I heard this simple illustration - I wept. Thank you God for giving me something new to thank you for this Thanksgiving week.

And if you want to get right with God, readdress your relationship with Jesus, or if you want prayer for anything - contact me.

Chas@VenturaFirst.com