Giving thanks...even when there's no turkey

Thanksgiving came early this year for me, four days early. Today was our official Thanksgiving celebration here at Rakuen Christ Church. For a while it was rather doubtful as to whether or not we were going to celebrate it at all. A few months ago we had originally planned to do a Thanksgiving "event" for the students (and their families) from our English and Korean classes. As we began to tell our students about it, it turned out that practically no one would be able to make it, whether because of work or other reasons. One day a few weeks ago, while driving in the car with I Sensei and his wife, they told me as much and that therefore, consequently, "Thanksgiving....canceled." What!!?? You can imagine how I took this. Those two words should never be used in the same sentence when addressing an American. That's like saying we're gunna just skip Christmas or my birthday, better luck next year. You can't do that!! Its illegal...or it should be!!Thankfully, shortly after my only Thanksgiving plans had been canceled, I learned that we would still be having a smaller family dinner and inviting a few close friends. Hope and peace were restored within.

My contribution to the meal was apple pie. That's as close as I could get to something American (we wanted it to be as international as possible). My miraculous finds are pictured above; the pie pan and shortening were the only things I thought might be hard to find, but with God on my side they were no problem.

I had a great time making the crust from scratch - it was my first time - and everything was going just swimmingly until the pie had been in the "oven" for about 30 minutes and we started smelling something burning. Yeah, guess what it was. I thought it was all over when we opened the "oven" and saw black crusty stuff all over and around the bottom, but turns out the juice just leaked out and started burning. The bottom of the crust did end up a bit dark in parts, ok by dark I mean black, but the rest was wonderful and everyone really seemed to like it. It was such a joy to be able to share something like this with my Korean and Japanese friends. I was worried that this Thanksgiving might be kind of miserable for me, being so far away from family and everything I've ever known, but I think the Lord really used this apple pie to minister to my spirit. When I'm only on the receiving end its so hard not to be disappointed. Japan is not America and the people here aren't my family. I was afraid that these facts might keep me from enjoying the new experiences and giving thanks to the Lord this Thanksgiving. But I think because I was also on the giving end I experienced so much joy by sharing a part of myself with them that I was able to embrace the differences. Family, turkey, football, etc. are a big part of Thanksgiving, but even when all of that is stripped away, God is still good and for those who know Him as the Almighty God, Lord Jesus, Emmanuel, there is always reason to give thanks.

"He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God."

~Psalm 50:23~