Turkey, Snow & Thanksgiving
The day before Thanksgiving began with soft, beautiful snow flurries. Tiny little flakes swirling around innocently through the air. It was a nice Northern winter welcome to my mother-in-law who was visiting us from Texas for the holiday. We thought little about the sweet little flurries and went on about our busy day-before-Thanksgiving activities.
After running a series of errands we had worked up an appetite and decided to take "Granny" to her favorite restaurant here, an excellent BBQ restaurant overlooking our river-front and the downtown skyline. By this time the flurries had turned into rain; however, as we ate looking out the windows at the river we noticed the rain turning into snow. No longer flurries, this was serious snow.
We still thought little about the snow and mostly enjoyed it's beauty as it began to cover the bare trees along the river's banks. When we finished our lunch and left the restaurant, we were surprised at how much snow had actually fallen. We realized this was quickly getting to be a much more serious snow than the flurries that began our day.
We needed to run two final, but very important errands, and then we would head home to start the pre-cooking activities. On our way to pick-up our smoked turkey from the local smokehouse the snowfall increased and traffic on the interstate came to a standstill. The side of the road and the ditches were littered with stranded cars and vehicles that had slid off the road. A twenty minute jaunt turned into an hour and a half journey. "This better be a really good turkey," one of my children quipped.
As light faded into darkness on our return trip home (which normally would have taken about 25 minutes) was even more perilous. "We should have just stayed home," my wife lamented. "God is taking care of us," my mother-in-law encouraged. Two hours later, we arrived safely at home. My mother-in-law was right, God was taking care of us-- and He had taught us all a very valuable lesson about trust and mostly thankfulness.
We realized then, how much we have to be thankful for... a God who is the great provider, and a loving and caring family, and food in bounty.
Thank you Lord for your caring arms that surround us--even in the storm. Thank you for the love of family and for the abundant way in which you provide for us everyday. Amen.
After running a series of errands we had worked up an appetite and decided to take "Granny" to her favorite restaurant here, an excellent BBQ restaurant overlooking our river-front and the downtown skyline. By this time the flurries had turned into rain; however, as we ate looking out the windows at the river we noticed the rain turning into snow. No longer flurries, this was serious snow.
We still thought little about the snow and mostly enjoyed it's beauty as it began to cover the bare trees along the river's banks. When we finished our lunch and left the restaurant, we were surprised at how much snow had actually fallen. We realized this was quickly getting to be a much more serious snow than the flurries that began our day.
We needed to run two final, but very important errands, and then we would head home to start the pre-cooking activities. On our way to pick-up our smoked turkey from the local smokehouse the snowfall increased and traffic on the interstate came to a standstill. The side of the road and the ditches were littered with stranded cars and vehicles that had slid off the road. A twenty minute jaunt turned into an hour and a half journey. "This better be a really good turkey," one of my children quipped.
As light faded into darkness on our return trip home (which normally would have taken about 25 minutes) was even more perilous. "We should have just stayed home," my wife lamented. "God is taking care of us," my mother-in-law encouraged. Two hours later, we arrived safely at home. My mother-in-law was right, God was taking care of us-- and He had taught us all a very valuable lesson about trust and mostly thankfulness.
We realized then, how much we have to be thankful for... a God who is the great provider, and a loving and caring family, and food in bounty.
Thank you Lord for your caring arms that surround us--even in the storm. Thank you for the love of family and for the abundant way in which you provide for us everyday. Amen.
