From the Pig Pen: Where do You Stand?
It is still three days before Thanksgiving as I write this column for the December issue of The Buzz. It is my sincere hope that each of you can enjoy a measure of good health, spend time with your family, and experience a Christmas that truly captures the love, the joy, the hope, and the peace that Christ desires for each of us. Where has this year gone? I can remember when it just seemed as if Christmas would never get here. Now, it is as if Christmas comes every six months.
As a youngster, growing up in northern Wayne County, Christmas was indeed a very special time of the year. We would have an elaborate program at church each year. Every year I just knew that I was going to be selected as a wise man. But, in reality, I usually turned out to be a shepherd. There was never any shortage of fruit, nuts, and candy. Who could possibly forget those homemade fruit cakes which were made well ahead as to allow for a proper aging and consistency to occur? I guess it is just a part of growing older. But, it sure seems like things have changed a great deal during my lifetime.
Christmas decorations and gift items are now purchased all twelve months out of the year. I never dreamed that I would live to see department stores open on Thanksgiving Day. Do the people shopping on Thanksgiving have any consideration for those unfortunate employees who are separated from their families? Will one person’s good fortune, at the costs of someone else’s misfortune ever possibly become acceptable and an ethical thing? What else can be done to obliterate Thanksgiving and destroy the true meaning of Christmas?
History teaches us that our great nation was founded by men and women fleeing religious persecution and whose lives were defined by their faith. Has our wavering from those basic tenets, which our forefathers possessed, happened so gradually and been so subtle that we as a nation have failed to recognize the path we have embarked upon? How much more can we endure, and at the same time remain the shining beacon of hope for those who desire freedom both here at home and across the globe?
God has been so good to The United States of America; not because he had to, but, because he chose to. President Lincoln said: “that a house divided against itself cannot stand.” We need not fear principalities or foreign citizens. We are doing a rather admirable job of destroying this great nation of our own accord. It is well past the time that we, as American citizens, be held to accountability. In closing I would pose this simple, yet profound question. Where do you stand? As always, until we next meet, be of good cheer.
