WHY SHOULD I BE THANKFUL?

My car battery keeps draining due to the weather. My newborn baby keeps me up late and wakes me up early. My two year old is acting like she’s seven and rebelling like a 17 year-old. Our bank account is low on funds. We’re looking for a new house and trying to figure out how we’re going to pay for it without me having to find a second job. The heat in our van doesn’t work. Our dog keeps pooping in the house. My cat keeps sneaking out of the house and tearing the farm cats into pieces. I’m overweight. I have parents of kids in the ministry who do not like the way I do ministry. I have youth who do not like the way I do ministry. I have non-Christian youth falling further away from Christ. I have Christian youth who are making worse choices then the non-Christian youth. I have youth who think other kids are faking their faith. My new Blackberry is not working like it should, considering I wasted hundreds of dollars on it. We can’t find our WIC coupons to get the free food the government gives us due to are income. I haven’t seen any of my close friends in months and years. I miss my family.
AND TO TOP IT OFF, I CAN’T STOP SINNING.
Looking at the list above, I can’t help but to wonder; why am I the happiest I’ve ever been in life? Why do I love life more then I have in the past? How can I be so excited to come home and relax with my family? Am I crazy for looking forward to coming to work everyday? Why do I long to spend more time with the youth in the ministry?
WHY DOES GOD GIVE ME THE GRACE TO FACE EACH AND EVERY DAY? WHY DOES HE SHOWER HIS LOVE ON ME AS IF I AM HIS ONLY LOVE? HOW CAN HE GIVE MY HEART THE REST IT SHOULDN’T HAVE WITH ALL THINGS CONSIDERED? WHY IN THE HECK DOES JESUS WANT TO ROMANCE MY FAMILY LIKE WE’VE BEEN FAITHFUL TO HIM AND NEVER BROKE HIS HEART OUT OF OUR OWN SELFISH REBELLION AGAINST HIM? WHY AM I LOVED BY GOD?
Bottom line, how can I not be grateful in life? All things may fall, but Christ remains faithfully crazy in love with us. This thanksgiving, above all things, let us remember how great the Father’s love is and how loved we are by Christ.
Romans 8-35, 37-39- “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword...Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

THE INFLUENCE OF MUSIC

Some looked at him as a god, some viewed him as the devil. Parents were cringing, while daughters were drooling . Whether you like him or hated him, In the 1950’s, Elvis Presley brought Rock-n-Roll to the forefront of culture and music hasn’t been the same since.
In the 60’s, they took over the British airwaves. Then they conquered America. After that, the world was at their feet. Instead of duplicating the sound of previous pop-culture hits, The Beatles were so unique, record labels kept slamming the door on them because they never heard anything like it and they just weren’t what the music industry needed. This led to be one of the biggest music industry blunders in history. The Beatles have sold over 1 billion units world wide.
They helped tear down the 60’s free-love movement. Rumors of Satanism and mysticism plagued their image which they welcomed. A band of mystery that people really had trouble figuring out. Led Zeppelin set the bar for Rock-n-Roll. Their number one hit “Stairway to Heaven” is the most played song in the history of album oriented radio.
He was no longer Little Michael. He was a young man who taught the world new dance moves while he serenaded everyone with his soft voice. Michael Jackson has the most
# 1 hits in music and the album “Thriller” is the world’s best selling album. No single person dominated the pop-culture scene more then Michael Jackson did in the 80’s.
In 1990, Nirvana was the final blow to the hairband era. They didn’t care for makeup. They didn’t want to look good. They just wanted to do music. They wanted to do it loud and with a message: “look at what you’ve made me”. They became the voice of the post-boomer generation and they were tired of the world. The music scene was in desperate need of a makeover, and Nirvana delivered in every aspect.
Music is the most powerful tool in the shaping of youth culture. It shows the world what’s to be worn, what words are to be used, and how to dance. Youth desperately look to the music world to help shape their image and define who they are. Music is the mirror to how we view ourselves. And artists have helped us put an image in that mirror.
When was the last time we sat down with a youth and asked to “see in their mirror”? Granted, the music may be extremely horrible and may resemble the sound of a cat getting its face smashed in with hammer (with a tight beat in the background). But have we taken the time to see how these kids view themselves? We become so quick to introduce these kids to artist like Stellar Kart, Switchfoot, Lecrae, or Skillet. If we want to be edgy, we give them P.O.D.’s newest album. Instead of passing onto youth what you believe they may like, first take a journey into their world to see who it is they are. Evaluate their culture first, as Paul did in Athens.

“Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.” ACTS 17:22-23