Watching Its a Wonderful Life with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed is a Wayne VanHorn holiday tradition. Two quotes from the movie are worth posting here. Halfway through the movie there is a picture of George Baileys deceased father, Peter Bailey. Under the picture is a quote from Peter Bailey: All you can take with you is that which youve given away. One of my favorite quotes from Jesus is Freely you have received; freely give. (Matt. 10:8b; NIV) This Thanksgiving/ Christmas Season please express your thanksgiving to God by giving yourself away to others. My pastor, Bro. Nolan Houston, challenged Terri and me to give more to God through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering than we spend on Christmas gifts for all others combined. We started that tradition in 1978 and continue it until this day. We have tried to model that behavior consistently for our children too. Christmas presents are temporal, but investing in Gods kingdom is eternal. The other quote from Its a Wonderful Life is from Clarence the Angel who finally gets his wings (bad theology, good story line). At the end of the movie, George Bailey gets Clarences copy of Huckleberry Finn in which the winged angel had written, No man is a failure who has friends. Be sure to thank God for all your friends this holiday season. If you have a friend who is not a believer, do them a favor and share Christ with them in the most loving, friendly way you can. Jesus will be the best gift they ever receive. My deceased fathers birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day this year. I can only say of Norman Glenn VanHorn that he was the best Christian dad a son could ever have. He was the real life version of Peter Bailey in the movie. He taught me to love people, to minister to them, to help them, and to hold all people up in dignity. When I received my doctorate degree, my dad who only got through sixth grade, hugged me and said, Your mother and I are very proud of you, but remember there are a lot more people out there like me than there are like you! His point was that I use my doctorate in the wider service of Jesus church. It has been 27 years since he hugged me that day and gave me that advice. His words have proven as valuable as all the wonderful things I learned while obtaining the BA, MDiv., and Th.D. degrees. So this Thanksgiving, dads 86th birthday, I can think of no better way to say thanks to him than to give myself away as freely as Jesus gave Himself to me, to remember Peter Baileys words, and to remember Clarences words. I close with one last quote wherein Paul quotes Jesus (a quote within a quote): In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: It is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts 20:35; NIV)
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 20:36:40 +0000