Time to Give Thanks

It's not as though I don't have other material to write about. We have Obama bowing to the Japanese Emperor like he's the butler and not the President of the United States. We have terrorist, war criminals like Khalid Sheikh Muhammad to be tried in civilian court like he knocked over a 7-11 instead of masterminding the worst terrorist attack ever on U.S. soil. We have a homicidal jihadist masquerading as a Major in the Army until he guns down the better part of four dozen innocent people at Fort Hood.

But this is Thanksgiving. On Thursday, families will gather together to watch the morning parades and establish their Black Friday shopping game plan. They will then stuff themselves with turkey and dressing. Afterwards, they will settle in to watch the NFL games on TV or slip into a tryptophan induced coma. While we are doing all of this, let us find time to give thanks to God for all his many blessings.

This we have in common with the Pilgrims of the first Thanksgiving. Well, maybe not Black Friday or the NFL. We all know the story. After a particularly tough winter in which half of the original Pilgrims died, they had a good growing season. This was helped in large part by an English speaking Indian named Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to grow crops in that area and acted as an interpreter for the Pilgrims and the local Indians. (An Indian who happened to speak English; do we not see the hand of God there?) The Pilgrims were so grateful they decided to give a feast of thanks for themselves and their new Indian friends.

So at this time particularly, we need to keep in mind all the things for which we have to be thankful.

We still live in the freest, most Christian nation in the history of the world. Yes, I mean to say this is a Christian nation. It was founded by Christians. However, we are welcoming to people of all religions. Because of our Judeo-Christian heritage and teachings we are a tolerant people and allow those of different faiths to be free to practice their religion. Our Constitution spells out that we all have the right to practice our religion.

We have so much to be thankful for just to be living in the United States. It may seem at times that our republic is collapsing around us and we are powerless to stop it. But our Founding Fathers gave us the ultimate power; we elect our leaders. I'm not saying the solution is necessarily Republicans. Take a serious look at the candidate asking for your vote. Question him or her. Find out how their views line up with yours. The answer is electing serious, sober, God fearing leaders who are committed to being the representative of their constituents.

Let us never forget our fighting men and women overseas who will be spending Thanksgiving separated from their loved ones. Likewise, there will be an empty chair at the table when their families sit down for Thanksgiving dinner. We should always remember those that gave the ultimate sacrifice that we could enjoy our Thanksgiving as free people.

Keep in mind those less fortunate than ourselves. Remember with the downturn in the economy there will be more who need assistance this time of year. Whether it is by donating money or donating your time; help out your favorite charity.

I know that I have a lot to be thankful for. I'm grateful to my parents for teaching me right from wrong. Even though I didn't always listen. I want to thank my wife, Christine, for her love and support in all things and her help reading drafts and suggesting revisions. Thanks to my Mother-in-Law for keeping our family grounded in what's really important. I'd like to thank Tom, Phil and all the good people at ConservativeTruth.org for allowing us this forum to get our message out. Finally, thanks to all of you. You are the reason we do this. We'll get back to ranting against Government soon enough, but for now have a wonderful Thanksgiving and blessed Christmas season.