On Giving Thanks to the Creator:
“As thou takest thy seat at table, pray. As thou liftest the loaf, offer thanks to the Giver. When thou sustainest thy bodily weakness with wine, remember Him Who supplies thee with this gift, to make thy heart glad and to comfort thy infirmity. Has thy need for taking food passed away? Let not the thought of thy Benefactor pass away too.

As thou art putting on thy tunic, thank the Giver of it. As thou wrappest thy cloak about thee, feel yet greater love to God, Who alike in summer and in winter has given us coverings convenient for us, at once to preserve our life, and to cover what is unseemly. Is the day done? Give thanks to Him Who has given us the sun for our daily work, and has provided for us a fire to light up the night and to serve the rest of the needs of life…”

On Eating:

“When you sit down to eat, pray. When you eat bread, do so thanking Him for being so generous to you. If you drink wine, be mindful of Him who has given it to you for your pleasure and as a relief in sickness. When you dress, thank Him for His kindness in providing you with clothes. When you look at the sky and the beauty of the stars, throw yourself at God’s feet and adore Him who in His wisdom has arranged things in this way. Similarly, when the sun goes down and when it rises, when you are asleep or awake, give thanks to God, who created and arranged all things for your benefit, to have you know, love and praise their Creator.”

On Worldly Troubles:

“Troubles are usually the brooms and shovels that smooth the road to a good man’s fortune; and many a man curses the rain that falls upon his head, and knows not that it brings abundance to drive away hunger.”

**Bumped**

I usually do this thread a little closer to Thanksgiving. This year we all know we might be having problems finding things, so I plan to shop for all the things I need that don’t have to be fresh this week. Anyhow, we hope you will contribute your family’s favorite recipes, and especially any new things you plan to try.

My family loves our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. My sons have all become excellent cooks, and my daughters in law are good cooks as well, so we share the cooking duties. One son will spatchcock and smoke the turkey. He is especially good at smoking meat, and we’ve had just about every kind of meat there is from his table, but all of us have loved the turkey best. Kind of strange for a bunch of red meat lovers, but it is so good. He brines it for a day or two, and then smokes it Thanksgiving morning. (more…)

I recently bought an inexpensive robot vacuum cleaner after years of easily resisting the trend. After a very bad ankle break last summer that won’t heal, and two knee replacements in recent months, I have mobility challenges that keep me from a lot of chores I used to keep up with easily.

I am far from Suzy Homemaker, and I don’t keep an immaculate house, but I have a thing about thorough dusting and well cleaned floors. My husband took on many things, including vacuuming, and my daughter in law helps, as well as grandchildren. Still, I decided to try out the little robot, just to help out.

(more…)

Comments have been closed. In the short time this post has been up I have had to delete a number of them. Good grief, if you don’t want to pray, pass on by. And if you are mad at Franklin Graham, you can’t put that aside long enough to say prayers for people whose lives are in grave danger at this moment?

Some of you need some serious self examination. There are many issues in our lives that should draw us together, and if we are actual, functioning adults, then we should be able to set aside other concerns and focus on a bigger picture. I’m closing comments when what I actually want to do is ban some of you who were really out of line. I consider that my act of self restraint for the day.  There was absolutely no need to be a jerk on a prayer post. I repeat, again, as I have in the past, not everything has to meet with your approval, and if it doesn’t you can ignore it.

From the desk of Franklin Graham…

Thousands of people are desperately trying to escape from Afghanistan after the country’s fall to the Taliban.

With the Taliban blocking access to the airport and all exit routes, this is a life or death situation for Christians and other religious minorities, and all those who worked with or for America over the past two decades.

These Islamic extremists, who have taken Afghanistan by force, have a history of brutality, including beheadings and public executions. Time is short and the need is urgent, and this is why I am calling for a day of prayer on Sunday, August 22.

With the Taliban blocking access to the airport and all exit routes, this is a life-or-death situation for Christians and other religious minorities, and all those who worked with or for America over the past two decades. There is no hope for these people to get out safely—apart from a miracle from the hand of God—and that’s what we need to pray for.

It is a difficult and tragic situation. Will you please join me in praying for God to intervene in a mighty way?

Sincerely,

Franklin Graham

When my three sons were little this was my least favorite time of the year. School supply time. I bought the basics all summer for awhile, but then I had to stop because the lists became so specific that I was wasting my money. Back then we didn’t get the lists until right before school started, when you pre registered your kids.

So, a week or two before school I was frantically trying to find specific brands of pencils, pens, notebooks, binders, glues, folders  (and those had to be specific colors too), crayons, dictionaries, calculators, and on and on. Sometimes teachers had items on the list not even made by manufacturers listed.

And I, who learned how to prove theorems and construct pentagrams and calculate sines, cosines, and tangents all without ever owning a calculator by the time I graduated high school, I resented those calculators. I knew then that they weren’t aids that helped my young sons think and learn, at that age they were crutches. (more…)

Treepers, as you can see below, I copied this from Spoogels comments several years ago, and saved it for this post, so thank you Spoogels, and Happy Independence Day to all of us. Stay strong, resolute, and proud. Spoogels says: May 27, 2019 at 9:25am

EDITOR’S NOTE: When this column first appeared in JWR two decades ago, on May 28, 1999, it was read on radio stations across the nation and went on to become what would, years later, come to be termed “viral”. We wish that the author, a long-time friend of JWR’s publisher, were still writing today. PLEASE SHARE via social media. “An American credo, By Don Feder”:

ON THE DAY when we memorialize those who gave their lives so America would endure, we should ask what it means a citizen of this republic. Here are the thoughts of one American, a credo for the coming millennia.

I am an American. I was conceived at Plymouth, born in Lexington and Concord, and reached maturity at Philadelphia.

I went through the fires of Shiloh, Gualdacanal, the Chosin Resovoir, Khe Sanh and a thousand other battlefields, and emerged rededicated to the ideals on which America was founded.

I am an American. Ever ready to defend my liberty and independence, to make any sacrifice and bear any burden – still, I seek no quarrel.

I march to the sound of the guns out of necessity alone. I fight not for glory or territory, or to make others bend to my will, but to vindicate my rights and preserve my freedom.

I am an American. I’m proud of my past. Words like Valley Forge, Gettysburg Address and Pearl Harbor — names like Washington, Jackson, Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt — make my blood stir.

(more…)

From all of us here behind the scenes at the Treehouse, we wish fathers the best of days. We thank you, we pray for you, and we praise God for the gift of dads.

I have been privileged to know some of the best fathers of our time, and especially would like to mention my appreciation and pride for those in my own life who have made the most difference to me and our family.

I was blessed to marry a man who became a wonderful father to our three boys. My sons are three of the best dads out there, under really challenging circumstances. Two of them have step children they love and cherish, nurture and guide.

My father in law was an epic man among men. He had great faults but his virtues eclipsed them. He was a man of immense strength, strength of mind, character, body, and above all else, faith. His heart was even bigger than his booming laugh.

If I had a fortune I would confidently place a wager that no one could ever say he backed down from his principles or failed to do what he saw as right in the face of any test. Not one time, not ever. Good or bad, hard or easy, he stood in the face of any challenge to right as he believed it to be. (more…)

This is a re-post of something I wrote several years ago for Father’s Day. I think this Father’s Day weekend is a good time to share it again, and now is a good time to celebrate and appreciate God’s gift of manhood.

45 years ago today I was blessed to marry the most wonderful man in the world. From the time I met him, just before I turned 18, he became the yardstick I measured all men by. He’s never failed to keep that bar high.

He inspired this post. I love him with all my heart. He has my respect, my loyalty, my admiration. He deserved the best of wives in return, but never complained about settling for me.

²⁶ God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves, and let them be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.’

²⁷ God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. (more…)

Today we honor and give thanks for all Americans who died while serving and protecting Americans, wherever far away and however brutal that task became. We celebrate the lives and sacrifice of our fallen.

I hope that we Americans are indeed offering up our prayers for those who have served and their families. I hope we remember to thank God today that we have such patriots who gave up their lives because they believed that America is our home, our land, the heart of who and what we are as not only a nation among others, but a key part of our very identity.

I like to post this video each year. It’s a fitting tribute to what we have to celebrate and observe today.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

May the souls of the faithful departed,

through the mercy of God,

rest in peace.

Amen.