Pastor's Corner

27 Nov
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Mid-Week Challenge

What is your idea of the perfect Thanksgiving?  Time with the family gathered around the table with a perfectly cooked bird and all the trimmings?  Light hearted conversation about memories made and times gone by?  Talk of hope and dreams by the little ones as they enjoy grandma’s famous pumpkin pie as aunts and uncles look on lovingly with deep approval?  Where did I envision such a tranquil setting?  Norman Rockwell, of course, because no matter how hard we try, no one has actually experienced this type of “perfect” Thanksgiving.  That has not stopped families across America from trying, and being that we live in a free enterprise system, it has not stopped some from trying to cash in on this desire.   A new survey from the AFBF has found that the average price of a Thanksgiving dinner for ten people — which includes turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, pumpkin pie with whipped cream — is $48.91. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thanksgiving-dinner-prices-flat-thanks-to-trade-war-afbf-181501482.html

If the average Thanksgiving feast is around $50, as Americans, we know that the more we spend the greater the experience, right? So for around $181,000 you and your family can experience the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner in America!  The over-the-top Thanksgiving package includes two free-range, $145-per-pound gold-painted, gold-dusted and gold-flaked turkeys, $1,600-an-ounce caviar, white asparagus that comes seasoned with $91 per-ounce imported Korean seasoning salt and topped with a vinaigrette infused with a 23-year-old special reserve Pappy Van Winkle bourbon that costs $3,800 per bottle. Creamy whipped potatoes, mixed with $850 per-pound European Pule cheese and $150 per-ounce French Echire butter, are served with imported black truffles which cost more than $1,000 per ounce. All the fixings are complemented with Opus One and Silver Oak wines as well as Cristal and Dom Perignon champagnes. Also included is a $50,000 seven-day SeaDream Yacht Club Cruise for two, a $20,000 Black Friday shopping spree and four tickets to Super Bowl LIV with first-class airfare and a stay at The Setai, Miami Beach.  Just for kicks, the price will also get you his and her iPhone 11 Pro Max smartphones and a $5,500 trip with friends around New York in a Bentley Bentayga SUV, as well as a separate dinner for four, featuring the Japanese Wagyu beef steaks that helped make Old Homestead a famed New York steakhouse. The package is roughly 3,700-times the average Thanksgiving dinner in America,

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/worlds-most-expensive-thanksgiving-dinner-at-181000-115738925.html 

That sounds like the perfect Thanksgiving to me, right?  Hardly, with all that excess and expense, nowhere in the description did I read where a meaningful relationship with those you share the experience with is guaranteed. In other words, if you are not emotionally invested with the people you share the experience with there is no promise of a heartfelt return on your investment.  And there it is, the one thing money can’t buy but everyone wants.  The wise man Solomon shares his take on Thanksgiving, Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife (Proverbs 17:1).  

This Thanksgiving, if you are sharing some dry crust or an $181,000 experience it really boils down to the people you are with and the content of your heart.  Don’t be distracted by the earthly things that the world tells you will lead to happiness.  God has designed us for relationships.  Be thankful for the people you have in your life and the leftovers in your fridge.  

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.  Romans 12:2 

Serving the Savior

Bro. Jonathan

By: Dr. Jonathan Richerson

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