–Elmer Kelton  (The Pumpkin Rollers)

       “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!”

                    –Psalm 147:7 (ESV)
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          “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
          Praise Him, all creatures here below;
          Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
          Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
                    –Thomas Ken

As I was sitting around the campfire yesterday, pondering on what to write, the words of the above hymn kept flowing through my mind.  Simple song, yet the words are full of meaning.  “Praise!”  WOW, what a meaningful word and often used in a trivial way.  We give praise far too often to mediocre individuals and events.  But then, perhaps the person voicing the praise is one of those mentioned in Proverbs, and I’m not speaking of the person of wisdom.  
     The Oxford Dictionary isn’t much help–“the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something.”  It doesn’t really do God honor and justice.  God is worthy of praise.  It refers to lifting Him up in our mind; an action and purpose of the will.  We have to will ourselves to praise God.  Someone said this about praise, “It is the joyful recounting of what God has done for us.  Praise and Thanksgiving go hand in hand…  Praise is the acknowledgment of all the wonderful, righteous deeds of God.”
     One of the most important aspects of praise is that of thanking God for His blessings in our lives.  We could spend hours discussing all that He has done from us from our first breath to where we are currently in life.  Oh, some may scoff at this and say that God has never done anything for them, but they think too small.  Breath, gravity, the systems of physics and the body–the natural world declares His wonder and without them life could not exist.  I wonder, and I include myself, if we have ever thanked God for gravity.  I’m sure Sir Isaac did, but imagine life without it.
     Thank Him for His creation, thank Him for the starry sky and the wonders of the heavens.  Thank Him that He is your heavenly Father and He cares for you.  Thank Him for the Son, Jesus Christ, and what He has done for man to bring him back in relationship to God by offering Him redemption.  Thank Him for the promise of the Holy Spirit who is sent to guide us into all truth.  With each of these we could spend hours thanking God and there have been countless books written about theology.
     One more thought–as you sit down to partake of the bounty that will be set before you on Thanksgiving, use it as an opportunity to thank God for the “blessed hope.”  One day we will be at the great supper in heaven united once again with loved ones and friends.  Talk about fellowship and feasting, but I would implore you now to thank God of what is to come.  The words of Revelation 19:9 end thusly, “These are the true words of God.” (NIV)
     This will be the last Echo until December.  Take time this Thanksgiving season to be thankful for all that God has blessed you with.  Take time to ponder, not merely voice words.  In closing this morning‘s note I leave you with Psalm 113:1-3 (NIV), and perhaps it wouldn’t be too far wrong after you read it the first time, to read it again substituting “praise” with “thanks.”

          1 — Praise the LORD.  Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
          2 — Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
          3 — From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets the name of the LORD is to be praised.

                    –Isaiah 40:29 (KJV)
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The end is near, the trip is almost over.  You think there would be joy and excitement, but then after climbing one hill you discover there’s still another to climb.  The knees get weak and buckle.  The same is trying to walk this journey of life bearing the burden of sin.  Oh, what a burden reliever is Christ.  Look at Psalm 130 and gain hope and renewed vigor for the rest of the trek.
   
          1 — Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;
          2 — Lord, hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
          3 — If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
          4 — But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
          5 — I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.
          6 — My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning–yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
          7 — O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.
          8 — And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.   (NKJV)

     Remember that this is a song of ascent, not descent.  Woe to the one who quits now and begins to walk back down the trail.  Continue on, hearken to God’s word, rely upon His mercy.  During the day and at night when the traveling is over take time to repent and confess your sins.  It will help your soul get back on the right track.  Strength is gone, but there is the hope in Christ that He will forgive and lift you up.   Notice the psalmist is desperate–“hear my voice!”  
     Sometimes you find yourself in a situation not of your making.  You are tripped, you get caught in a snare, you fall over a rock or root in the path.  Other times you just plain have given into temptation.  Your sinful desires took you astray.  However, “At all times you must take responsibility for your feelings no matter how you crashed.” (George Wood)  If not, we could fall into sin, but reacting wrongly to the situation not of our creation.  Now get this–God is with you and is fully willing to forgive!   As Steven Lawson said, “If God kept a record of sins, never to forgive them, no one could stand with acceptance before Him.”  Aren’t you glad He doesn’t keep score?   It is His nature to forgive if we come to Him humbly.  “The result of true forgiveness is never a lackadaisical attitude but holy fear toward God.  Divine pardon, rightly understood and humbly received, will always lead to deep reverence for God.” (Lawson)  
     What a psalm for this Thanksgiving season.  God forgives!  If we ask, He is ready and willing.  I like what George Wood says, “The Lord does not offer empty words or incomplete solutions to your need.”  There is full forgiveness, full restoration, full reconciliation.  “He brought me out of the miry clay.  He set my feet on the Rock to stay; He puts a song in my soul today, A song of praise, hallelujah.” (H.L. Gilmour)
     Notice that the psalmist waits as eagerly as the watchman waits for the dawn.  That was the time when they would be relieved of the burden of the night.  They looked forward to that respite just as we can when we call upon the Lord.  We put our hope in Him.  We rest in His love and He brings peace to our soul.  There is another side-note at the end of this psalm:  the redemption of Israel.  There will come a day when those of the covenant will finally receive Jesus as the Messiah and then God will restore them.  “He himself will free Israel from every kind of sin.” (NLT)
   
               “In tenderness he sought me, weary and sick with sin,
               And on his shoulders brought me back to his fold again.
               While angels in his presence sang
               Until the courts of heaven rang.”
                       –W. Spencer Walton

                    –Stephen Bly  (Beneath a Dakota Cross)

       “‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘Therefore I hope in Him!'”
                    –Lamentations 3:24(NKJV)
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The year is almost over so if you have things that needs doing in the year, you best be doing them or you won’t have time to be doing them.  Does that make sense?  In other words if there are things that must be completed before the year is out, get them done.  Things like fulfilling a vow or a resolution, writing a long overdue letter or note, calling a friend, sitting down with the family.  Let me harp on that for a moment.  The family, the first institution ordained by God, is often the most neglected.  Career, phones, school activities, church activities, and just plain old busyness can get in the way of family life.  Those are supposed to enhance and encourage and help families, not be a hindrance.  So think about it this Thanksgiving time.  Don’t just sit with them on Thanksgiving, be a part of each other’s lives.  If you can’t work your schedule around your family then perhaps you need to review your schedule.  
     I like to take time during the Thanksgiving week to reflect and remember.  Reckon I’ll sit by the fire next week and listen for those “Echoes” of other times, seasons, and places.  As the flames go upward and flicker my mind might wander to Thanksgivings of the past, or just other instances of which I need to always be thankful.  We must never forget that in times of sorrow and tears that the Lord is good.  In times of quandary and questions–the Lord is good.  In the midst of tribulations, storms, and battles–the Lord is good.  In the seasons of life and seasons of the year–the Lord is good.  In times of bounty and plenty–the Lord is good.
     One thing I’m thankful for is the love of my wife.  One of the people I’m thankful for is that same person.  I read something this week that struck me and I want to pass it along.  Husbands you better heed and ponder this!  “Your wife is the only person who has ever loved you for who you are.  Your mom loves you because you are her son, your siblings love you because you are their brother, your children love you because you are their father.  But your wife is on another level.”  Something I’ll be pondering and reflecting on when I listen for the Echoes from the Campfire next week.
     I mention a campfire since it has become a tradition that Annie and I along with Kimberly’s family go camping Thanksgiving week.  We have been doing this for a number of years.  Yes, I know that it is supposed to rain on Thanksgiving; it will not be the first time.  We have been at Lake Livingston the past few years, so Annie and I have become “day-campers.”  
     “Over the river and through the woods, To grandmother’s house they come…”  Not quite right, but it fits.  Except for the camping at Thanksgiving most of the time the grandkids come to Grandma’s cottage in the woods.  We’re so thankful that the Lord has allowed us to live where we do where three of the four grandkids can come out any time they are able.  The seasons of life have changed and Annie and I no longer travel to Grandma’s house, we are those folk.  So this Thanksgiving, listen for the Echoes; reflect on the goodness of the Lord and the seasons past.
          “Over the river and through the woods,
               Trot fast, my dapple gray!
               Spring over the ground,
               Like a hunting hound!
          For this is Thanksgiving Day.”
                   –Lydia Maria Child

                    –Malachi 2:6 (HCSB)
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          10 — My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
          11 — If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood; let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
          12 — Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
          13 — We shall find all kinds of precious possessions, we shall fill our houses with spoil;
          14 — Cast in your lot amongus, let us all have one purse”–  (NKJV)

     Drive the pagans out of the land (Numbers 22:53-55).  While this cannot be possible in our country, we are implored to watch our company.   We are to beware of “friends” that could lead to habitual sin in our lives.  I used to tell my students that if I wanted to make them mad I would discuss their choice of music and friends.  Not only are we to be wise and cautious regarding the path we walk, but also those we meet along the way.  This is the wisdom of Proverbs 1:10-16.
     Verse 10 is a key verse.  Charles Bridges writes, “Consent constitutes the sin.”  The responsibility and choice is ours, but know this that “sinners take pains to pervert their companions.” (Niclas Brady)  It’s easy to follow the crowd.  That is why it is imperative that our children and grandchildren are grounded, firmly established, in the Word of God.  There is great pressure when they leave home whether it be college, military, career, or the workforce, to get involved with wrong companions.  “The sinner has a plan and a program to get something for nothing.  He lives off someone else and makes someone else suffer in order that he might prosper.” (J. Vernon McGee)  Do not get involved with this type of person.  
     It’s easy to follow the crowd; if you do so, you must make sure it’s the right and proper crowd.  “It’s easy to ‘goof off’ at work, to not put in a full day’s work for a full day’s wages.” (McGee)  It’s easy to say, “that’s good enough” when really the work is subpar.  To put it bluntly, that is stealing and shows a lack of integrity.  One of my pet peeves as an administrator was that teachers would claim they didn’t have to do any work on their “off period.”  I had to get across to them that it was not an “off period” but a planning period, a time for grading.  There is no time to waste, or to steal (so to speak) from God and kingdom work.

          15 — My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path;
          16 — For their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.  (NKJV)

     Do not walk with the world.  We must be separate from those of the world and its system.  Paul tells us, “Therefore, come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord.  Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.” (2 Corinthians 6:17, NKJV)  Charles Bridges warns us about the world and those in it, “How can substance be found belonging to a world of shadows?”  He further states, “Every step on Satan’s ground deprives us of the security of the promises of God.”  Therefore refrain from the first step.
     We see in the above verses their plot:  shed blood, especially of an innocent person and to do it just for fun; take precious possessions, in other words become a thief and filling your houses with unlawful gain; then they have the “all for one and one for all” attitude, but I would ask, is their honor among thieves?  I will repeat, do not take the first step.  As we can form sinful habits, we can also develop a habitual resistance to sin.  Part of that resistance is to not fall in with the wrong type of companions.  If we do, “The tender conscience becomes less sensitive by every compliance.  Who can stop himself in the downhill road?  One sin prepares for another, pleads for it, nay, even makes it necessary for concealment.” (Bridges)
     Be aware, it can happen to anyone who is not guarding themselves.  Look at Aaron who was led astray by the crowd.  He foolishly made a golden calf, an idol to worship in pagan revelry.  The crowd welcomed Jesus and a week later they were clamoring, “Crucify Him!”  We need to walk the pathways of God’s wisdom, be fully persuaded of our doctrine, stand firm in the faith, and find friends from among God’s people.  I am reminded of the chorus written by an unknown author:

          “Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true,
          Keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true,
          There’s a race that I must run,
          There are victories to be won,
          Ev’ry hour by Thy pow’ keep me true.”