Happy Thanksgiving Pilgrims

We don't have a large Muslim population here in Olongapo, but they seem to be growing and we've noticed a lot of Muslim street vendors across from the mall lately. Yesterday at one of the open air markets in town there was a Muslim riot. We're not sure yet what it was about, but it was Muslim on Muslim trying to kill each other. My guess would be we have both Sunni and Shia Muslims here in that case.

With that in mind the first thing I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving is that our God is Love, that His message is love, that His command to us is to love, that He doesn't bribe us with physical pleasures for hatred and murder, but rather promises an eternal joy that we can't even begin to imagine (I Corinthians 2:9) all because He loves us enough to have died in our place (John 3:16).

Unlike the White House Occupant I understand and appreciate our history. Our real history, that is. I love the story of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock after braving the stormy North Atlantic in search of religious liberty. I'm proud of the heritage they gave us by settling an area where no Indians lived and brokering a peace treaty with the Wampanoag and Narragansett tribes that lasted 55 years until the Indians broke it.

I'm proud of the true history of the first Thanksgiving when the Pilgrims invited the Indians to join them in a harvest feast and thanking God for His mercy and provision through that first terrible year. Yes, I'm sure they were very grateful to Squanto for the help he gave them, but the first Thanksgiving wasn't about Squanto or the Indians like some public school textbooks teach. It was about thanking the God of the Bible.

Thank you, Lord, for your magnificent provision and blessings in our lives. Thank you for giving us the greatest country in the history of the world. Thank you for those who have sacrificed to make it possible, and especially for those who have paid the ultimate price that we might breathe free.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING PILGRIMS.