I am by no means the perfect father. I get mad at my kids and lose patience with them. I have sinned against them more than once, and received forgiveness from them. They sometimes drive me nuts. Some say that having three boys was the cause of me being bald. Fact is, I was balding before they even came on the scene. However, they may have accelerated the process.

The bottom line is, I really love my teenage boys. I am pretty sure they get that. There are times when I am so proud of them, that I can't keep quite about it. The one thing that I have been able to instill in my boys is to never give up. Never give up on relationships worth keeping, never give up when playing sports, never give up on people far from God and never give up on God period.

God is always bigger than our problems even though at times that is hard to see. God is bigger than our challenges. The sun cast a shadow on Goliath, not the other way around. And know that God loves the lost infinitely more than we do. As we engage our culture and share with our community the love of Jesus, it may take some time before we see the fruits of our labor, but as we do, never give up.

Galatians 6:9 &version=NIV">Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

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Have you ever thought or uttered those words? We all have at some point. My Tuesday morning men's group have been studying the prayer of Jabez for the last several weeks and over the course of the study I have seen God's hand move within our church and our outreach ministries several times.

Recently, I was with the VBS leadership team and we were talking about wanting to grow VBS this year in terms of more kids participating in our program. We were brainstorming ideas and I mentioned how Peachtree Elementary could pass our fliers to kids at the school. The immediate response was the school would never do that for the church. I was confident that they would because God continues to open up opportunities for us to serve our local schools.

(I am not making this up...I just got a call right now, from a local middle school that wants us to run Saturday soccer camps for them for the next four Saturdays.) I digress.

I scheduled to meet with the Peachtree Elementary principal and before that meeting I started to doubt that the school would do this for us. During the meeting I took the risk and asked the principal if she could have our fliers distributed to all 1700 students. Without a blink, she said that wouldn't be a problem.

I left thrilled. God moved her heart to allow us to do this. As I have reflected on this and other occasions that have occurred, I guess I want to quit myself. I want to quit doubting God. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we serve a great God, who wants to do great things through us for His glory. Quit doubting and start trusting!!!

John 14:12

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

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I was born and raised in Sandy Hook, a small region of Newtown. My folks have lived in Newtown for over forty years. We are one or two families removed of knowing all those who lost loved ones. Over these last few days, I have cried more tears, prayed more for my home town, and longed to be some source of blessing to my family and friends that still live there.

As the healing process continues, there is word that things are slowly getting back to a level of normalcy. I pray that does not happen. I pray that the events that occurred in my Elementary School, where I got my first “kiss”, where I spent a lot of time in the principal’s office, where I lost in the first round of many spelling bees, where I heard the gospel message for the first time in the school cafeteria, that things will never be the same.

I pray that what happened would be a catalyst to drive people to do more good, to be more kind, to look after each other more, to drive people to do something. That is my prayer. That people would do something positive to those we come in contact with. When I got back into town, from my visit to Newtown, the first thing I did was email our good friend Dr. Beverly Smith from Peachtree Elementary and thank her and the teachers for all their hard work. I thank God for the partnership and friendship He has grown with the church and school.

I pray that the children and people impacted both in Newtown and around the world would desire to become better citizens, who make a positive impact in their circles of influence whether in a career that lends itself to that end, or simply making a positive impact in their daily lives. In many ways, I pray we all start doing. That we would do something positive today for those we come in contact with.

Many years from now many will remember Newtown as the town that had this horrific tragedy occur, but for the people of Newtown, it will be remembered as the day we came together to support those who were hurting. This tragedy was my town’s defining moment and I couldn’t be more proud for how we responded. To my clergy friends, I am in awe in how you handled this situation with the grace and love that comes only from our Father in heaven. To those who have lost loved ones, know that your children, parents, and wives have made me a better pastor and a better person. For those impacted by what occurred, do something.

I love asking this question to my friends. Because how you answer it tells me a lot about yourself. I am a turkey person and my wife is a side person. I am a meat eater. Some people call the Atkinson's diet, a diet. I call it a lifestyle. No matter how you prepare your turkey, deep fried (thank you my southern friends), brined (my son does this each year-most moist turkey ever), butterball (thanks gram-ma for all the great memories growing up) or whatever, at the end of the day (or the next day) turkey is still turkey. Turkey represents tradition for me.

My wife argues sides. Variety is the way to go. More sides the better. Take a chance, try something new, even if they are the same sides year after year. Sides almost takes first place for me thanks to the person who decided to put marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes. Thank you marshmallow man (or woman).

No matter if you are a side person or a turkey person, we can all agree that Thanksgiving brings family and friends together. As Christians, we are truly thankful. We understand that we don't deserve heaven. We understand that the Son of God died on that old rugged cross to pay for our sins with His very own life and that arose from the grave three days later. Because of Jesus, we were changed from sinners to saints for all who believe in Him alone for salvation. May be never be characterized as an unthankful person or people.

This Thanksgiving you may be sitting next to those who need Jesus. Represent Christ well to them. You may be sitting next to those who are going through a desert season of their life. Be the refreshing wellspring to their souls. You may be sitting next to those who lost loved ones the previous year. Weep with those who weep.

This Thanksgiving, give thanks to God for all the blessings He has given you, but also be praying for those divine appointments to be the hands and feet of Jesus to others. Be on the lookout for these divine moments, but in the meantime enjoy the turkey...and sides. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

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