George Washington's Thanksgiving Proclamation

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to "recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October, A.D. 1789.

G. Washington

Our [AC] Story

Just before we left for summer vacation I got a call from Jeanne McKinley asking if I would write up our family's Advent Conspiracy story for a book they were putting together. I recently got a copy of the book and found an except of our story...how exciting is that?

It was January of 2007, and we were driving home from Oklahoma in a flurry of wrapping paper. We celebrated a late Christmas with my brother and his family in Tulsa and the van was loaded down with loot. I remember feeling so frustrated that I had to remind my children to say thank you after tearing open their gifts. Something didn’t feel right. Looking back, I think it was all a crazy God-Set-Up!

Usually my husband, does all the driving but on this occasion he jumped in the back with the boys to watch Facing the Giants…a present from Grandpa and Grandma. David set up his ipod for me and said “You gotta listen to these podcasts”. So, I drove along listening to a collection of speakers from the Imago Dei Advent Conspiracy series. There was a woman with a swanky accent talking about drums….then I felt like I was just having a conversation with Pastor Rick as he talked about the empire of the day. But the thing that really got me was Chris Seay's story about a dad and his kids. I thought about my own children, two great boys. One wants to play football in the NFL…so my mind just ran with that. What if he makes it really big…hmmm…maybe I’ll get a new house for Mother’s Day! But what if my younger son struggles…living on the streets…eating out of trash cans….cupping his hands in the duck pond for a drink of water. Wouldn’t I want his big brother to get out of his Hummer and do something! I was wrecked. I was balling in the driver seat and David was in the back wiping away tears from the movie…we were a mess!

The truth is, that I have brothers and sisters in the family of humanity all over this globe who would be shocked at all the stuff I’ve accumulated in my cushy suburban life. I realized that our Christmas budget is actually enough money to really make a difference on the earth. I spend it and it’s gone…with not much to show for it…not even an unforced “Thank You”. How had I moved so far away from the humble story of the season? That day, I vowed that Christmas for the Cherry family would never be the same. When I got back to work…I sent out the link to the podcasts to all my co-workers planting a seed for Christmas 2008. You see, we are actually professional Christians, both my husband and I are employed by our church here in Austin.

Later on that summer…I was set-up again. My oldest son had a touch of something. A little flu bug, upset tummy. No big deal, right? I actually said to him "I'm sorry you don't feel well this morning, but you have a strong healthy body and you'll feel better this afternoon." And he did.While he was at home recovering, I went to the YMCA to work out with my favorite work out partner…my ipod. I listened to another story about global water needs. Something like 80% of the diseases facing people in undeveloped countries are related to water. Mothers in these countries are not so cavalier about things like vomiting and diarrhea. These are life and death issues for them.Anyway, I couldn’t stop thinking about the statistics I heard, that one in six people on our planet do not have clean water to drink. That children are dying each day due to water related diseases. I knew we had to do something; we wanted to bring the message Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More and Love All to our local church family.

David and I brainstormed on our Monday off. We pulled together some information and made a presentation to one of our executive pastors. He loved it and felt like out senior pastor would love it too! It sounded like everyone was on board but then things just went silent. It was challenging in that quiet season to wonder what was going on. Would Christmas for our church be any different than years past? We had to trust God that he was working out his plan for our body of believers!

During that season, I met with a creative genius in our Children’s department and pitched the idea of a relational gift fair. We decided to go ahead and set a date to provide whoever would come with options for relational giving. The gift fair was a blast. We demonstrated 5 hand-made gift ideas and then had 8 tables filled with a wide variety of items that we felt expressed relationship. We gave away worksheets to help them really clue-in to the people on their Christmas list. We put together pages and pages of ideas organized by roll….spouse, child, and friend …to inspire them in their giving. Our goal was to empower them to resist the spending frenzy and give the gift of themselves. To challenge them that if they were feeling stressed out and frustrated with Christmas that perhaps they’d bought into the wrong story. Our hearts know that there is a deeper truth than shop till you drop.

It is easy as church staff to get caught up in the season, there is so much to do. There are special services and rehearsals for special services and meetings about those rehearsals! My husband and I made an appointment to meet and plan what Christmas would look like in our home. We decided to cut our spending in half. We also gave bottles of water from Charity:Water to our friends and family with a note that one $20 bottle of water would provide clean drinking water for one person for 20 years. We bought 12 sleeping bags for the homeless in our community and the whole family delivered them to our East Austin outreach pastor. We were amazed by the response of the people who saw those sleeping bags. I know my children were deeply touched, I could see it in their eyes. But I have to admit that it was really hard to not slip back into our spending habits when it came to the boys. There was a lot less wrapping paper this year, and as typical American parents that was not easy. I remember sitting in our home office with David late one night wrapping gifts. We looked at the packages and thought, this is it? Everything is wrapped? We wondered how the boys would respond. We bought Legos this year because we all enjoy them. Mom and Dad usually get to help build that very first creation and then the boys rebuild and create all year long! We got an Uno Flash game that has provided some wild family game nights! David also made a year full of fun coupons for each boy. They LOVE those and eagerly await the first of the month when they get to cash in a new coupon. These are gifts that last. When we first talked with the boys about changing our Christmas budget I think they were a little disappointed. But looking back now, I don’t remember seeing any of that on Christmas day. In fact, it was at Thanksgiving that I started to see evidence of change. We each wrote down what we were thankful for and I noticed the boy’s thoughts were so simple, so basic. “I’m thankful for food, for my bed and a warm home.” I'm not sure they had every realized before that these were things to be grateful for. It was a shift in the right direction.

As the holiday season drew nearer, I got an email from our senior pastor requesting resources from Advent Conspiracy. So I did what any part-time administrative assistant would do. I printed out EVERYTHING from the website…even Rick’s thesis! I made copy for our family too and devoured every page. Pastor Rob shared beautiful messages and it was incredibly humbling to sit in the congregation, hear these truths and feel like we had a part in it all. Then just days before Christmas we got word that we would be receiving an offering at our Christmas Eve service for clean drinking water. We were overwhelmed. Our beautiful church family redistributed about $44,000 of their Christmas budgets to make a difference in Sudan. It was the chocolate icing on an already sweet, moist, gooey, made from scratch cake!

David and I are so grateful for Advent Conspiracy. We knew things didn’t feel right, that there was something askew with our Christmases….but we couldn’t pin point exactly what was wrong. I remember thinking something must be missing…maybe there was something more….now I know that More for us actually means a whole lot Less.

I Am An Arrow

Shine conference 2009 was wonderful. Podcasts are available to download at shoreline.net or just click here. On Thursday night Pastor Laura shared a wonderful message on one part of the conference theme: Hear the Cry. One verse she shared really stood out to me:

Isaiah 49:1-3 from The Message:

Listen, far-flung islands, pay attention, faraway people: God put me to work from the day I was born. The moment I entered the world he named me. He gave me speech that would cut and penetrate. He kept his hand on me to protect me. He made me his straight arrow and hid me in his quiver. He said to me, "You're my dear servant, Israel, through whom I'll shine."

One of the things we believe is that what God said in the Bible about one of his servants can apply to his servants today. He shows no favorites, he never changes, so we grab hold of things he said thousands of years ago as if he is saying them to us today. We say with Isaiah "God made ME his straight arrow" .

During her message, Pastor Laura invited a 14 yr old girl who is part of an archery club to come and shoot an arrow across our stage. It was captivating! I watched her carefully as she prepared to shoot her arrow. I noticed that from the moment she stepped on the stage her eyes were on the target. Her focus was clearly intent on that bulls eye stage left. The few times that she had to look away for a moment in her preparation were followed by intense focus back on the target.

It's funny, how consumed we become with our little arrows. I think sometimes we assume that God is consumed with our arrows too. As I watched this young archer it occurred to me me that God's heart is focused on the target! In other translations of this verse I found a few different adjectives to describe the arrow. A "straight" arrow. A "polished" arrow. A "sharpened" arrow. Clearly, the state of the arrow IS important. God is depending on us to be sharp and to fly straight. Yet, all the while we obsess about our own small stories God is looking at the big picture. Focusing on His Story. He is looking toward the goal and counting on us to reach the target.

Our beautiful archer was intentional, deliberate and painfully slow in her preparation. There were several pieces of equipment that she had to put on and the quiet was awkward. I found myself thinking we should have some background music or something. Come on sound man! It was uncomfortable as we all watched her slow, steady progress. Then I remembered this little thought that times of preparation are never wasted. It was obvious that our young archer would not be rushed. The quiet, the silence didn't seem to bother her. She was thinking about the target, remember. Everything that needed to be done in order to assure reaching that target was going to be done systematically and accurately.

Doesn't God's timing feel excruciatingly slow? We may feel like we are ready to fly! Launch me to my purpose Lord! We question why other arrows seem to fly before our own. We feel stuck in that awkward place called preparation. It's dark inside a quiver. Our vision is limited and we don't see all that God is accomplishing in those quiet times. I'm confident that God is at work. Completing what he started. Bringing to pass his purpose (See Ps 57:2, Phil 1:6, I Pet 5:10)

Everyone in the room cheered as the arrow was finally flung and as it struck dead center of the target. There was never any doubt in my mind that she would reach the target. Her eyes had penetrated that same spot before the arrow was ever set in the bow. That canvas target was changed. It had been pierced, infiltrated. I remember years ago when I was not an arrow in God's quiver. I was the target. God sent another one of his servants flying to me. His love pierced my heart and I was forever changed. I'm so thankful for that arrow that flew into my life!

Now, as the arrow, and I wonder what target does God have for me to fly to? Where can I bring his love? Where can I bring hope and change? I'm not sure I know the exact spot right now and maybe the truth is that there is more than one bullseye for each of us. I do know that I have to stay continually surrendered to this awkward process of growth and confidently trust His timing in my life.

Shinewomen.com

Way back in the beginning when God was creating the world, He paused at the end of the day and saw that it was good. He approved completely of the work he had done on the earth. Then we see something curious in Genesis 2:18 The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone….. Something was ‘Not Good” and God set about immediately to fix it. He created woman. Eve was the solution for mankind’s first problem. And I believe with all my heart that God’s design for woman hasn’t ever changed. We are carriers of life, we are nurturers, and we are keepers of relationship. We are created to bring the answer. Unfortunately, I’ve learned from my own experience that we can’t very well reach out to offer a solution when our hands are bound. We desperately need to be free. For me, that is what the Shine conference is all about: God bringing freedom to His girls!

A few years ago our Shine conference was the catalyst for change in me. I was bound in shame, fear and pain. I had been hurting for so long and had learned quite well how to stuff those feelings inside. Denial was a lovely salve, until I began to reach capacity and all the junk I’d kept inside started coming out sideways. I was angry for all the ‘whys” of my life. I was lonely and sad and the last thing on earth I felt was shine-y. I did not want to go to the conference that year; in fact I was working on the excuses I might use with my friends…. “I don’t have anything to wear, and I’m so busy at work….” But in the midst of planning my avoidance I found this scripture, Psalm 18:28 reads You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light. With that, God melted my jaded heart. Yes, my light had been doused by the pain of my past but it wasn’t up to ME to make it shine again. God said HE would do it! I went to the conference with a heart to receive all God had for me. I really had no idea what that would mean, but looking back it has been one of the landmarks of my journey. I came away with two vital things: Courage to face the truth about my life and Hope to believe that I could be free!

When I compare who I am today with the woman I was several years ago, I see more wrinkles, more mid-life breakouts and a lot more gray hair. But on occasion, it seems like God changes my perspective and what I see amazes me; because I see beauty for all my mess, I see joy for what I felt was lost and I see a gorgeous garment of praise for the heaviness of heart that weighed me down (Isaiah 61:3). And I’m so thankful for the difference Jesus has made! It thrills me to tell you that I am more alive than ever and this is the reason: I know that if God did this for me - He will do it for you!

God wants you free. Galatians 5:1 says It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. God wants his girls to be free so we can reach out to a younger generation, so we can extend a helping hand to hurting humanity and so we can be the solution He created us to be. But I think God really just wants us to be free….so that… we are free!

Free to Hear the cry, See the need, Feel the pain and RESPOND with love!

Treasure in a Pot

Remember 2 Corinthians 4 and this idea of carrying around treasure in a jar of clay? I've written about it before


Why is it that I keep trying to make life all about the jar? I get so frustrated with myself! Now I don't think I'm the kind of person that you would suspect is stuck on herself. Prideful , puffed up or boasting. No, my vanity issues are cleverly disguised as insecurity and self-doubt. I lose sight of the unsurpassed value of the treasure when I take a magnifying glass to my jar. Pouring over each scratch and chip and mourning every flaw.

I was thinking about this metaphor and the fact that we don't have houses full of clay pots like they would have thousands of years ago. So, I thought, maybe it's like.....carrying around your diamond necklace in a plastic grocery sack. How strange would that be? How silly!


I was grinning and thinking to myself, that's kinda funny. I like being funny. But my new metaphor doesn't hold water, and I mean that literally....ha!


The absurdity of tossing your fine jewelry in a Walmart bag may give us clue into how wonderful, how great, how glorious the treasure of the good news of Jesus Christ and how ordinary we are as carriers of this treasure. But it really doesn't work for one reason:

Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O Lord, You are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter,

we are all the work of your hand.

Each earthen vessel was cupped in the hands of the Father. He sees the potential in a lump of clay, and with his own hands he forms us. Every grove, every line a reflection of his fingerprints.

The beauty of this metaphor is not only that the fragile nature of the jar only serves to make the treasure more glorious but that we are each uniquely created to carry and spill out this light, this truth, this life in a way that no other vessel can. We are all the work of his hand.


I am in awe and overwhelmed that I've been trusted to carry this treasure.


Lord, let each imperfection only serve to draw me deeper into dependence and help me to value the unique expression of your glory that flows through me!

Take Courage

I just love this little phrase "Take Courage". It's active and brave and it comes to me whenever I am shrinking back. Take courage, rise up, reach out, grab it! Two of my favorite Bible verses (Psalm 27:14 and Psalm 31:24) carry this thought and I was on biblegateway looking them up the other day, when I found my call to action in a few more places. How exciting!


Jesus actually spoke these words to his disciples and the story is recorded in 3 of the 4 gospels so you know it must be important! Jesus had just finished feeding the 5,000 and then he tells the disciples to get in a boat and go ahead of him to the other side. He climbs the mountain to spend some time alone with the Father and then in the middle of the night he comes walking across the lake...walking on the water...Peter gets out of the boat and walks on the water with Jesus, AMAZING....


As I was reading over it I noticed a few things.


It WAS Jesus that instructed the disciples to get in the boat and go across that night. Don't you think they remembered that when they were out there and the waves were kicking them around? What was Jesus thinking, surely he knew that there would be a wind advisory tonight and he sent us out here anyway! Hmph! In Mark's account it says that Jesus went out to them walking on the water and was about to pass them by! Can you imagine? They were straining at the oars, tossed around by the wind for hours and Jesus would have passed them by. What was he thinking? Didn't he see the waves? Didn't he feel the wind? I'm sure he did. But remember, Jesus had just come away from time with the Father. I think he was full, so at rest, trusting the Father completely and none of that phased him. He knew his life on earth, and his 12 followers were safe in the hands of the Father and the wind couldn't change that.


The disciples think he is a ghost and they are scared out of their minds. The Bible says that immediately he spoke to them....I love that little adverb Immediately, that is my kind of response time! It is precious to me that Jesus was quick to respond to their fear. He says to them "Take courage, it is I. Don't be afraid" There is great comfort in knowing that Jesus shows up right there in the middle of the wind and waves. We are never alone and he is mighty to save!

I read in Matthew Henry's Commentary that "it is I" could also be read "I AM he" Henry saw this as a reference to the name that God gave himself when he was speaking to Moses. Standing there on the lake, Jesus says to his exhausted, distressed disciples "I AM". The God who delivered the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt is here to deliver you! I can hear Jesus speaking this to us in whatever we are facing. Wind and waves, storms come at us but just as we are straining, struggling with our circumstances Jesus reminds us "I AM". The God who strengthened and healed his children in the desert is here to strengthen and heal you. The God who brought them out with joy and singing is here to bring you joy. The God who led them with fire by night and a pillar of smoke by day can lead you too! When we're wondering "How are we going to make it to the other side?" Jesus says I AM, the God who provided food from heaven, water from a rock and clothing and shoes that didn't wear out in forty years is here to provide for you. Mighty to deliver, mighty to heal, mighty to save!


An interesting thing happens when Jesus climbs into the boat, the wind dies down. I don't know what wind is blowing in your life or what waves are rocking your world. I know that just this week I told my husband "It felt like waves were crashing over me." Sometimes life just comes at us like that. When I feel that way I have to remind myself to Take Courage! I AM is with me, standing right beside me and he is not shaken by this storm!

Zacchaeus Was A Wee Little Man

This past weekend we had the privilege of hosting Ricardo Sanchez as our guest worship leader at Shoreline. It was such an honor for me to be a part of that service! At our rehearsal the day before Ricardo shared some great thoughts with our team. One story has stayed with me all week. He talked about Zacchaeus and how he ran ahead and climbed a tree so he could see Jesus. Ricardo said: leaders go first, they don't look for a way out they look for a way through. They move up higher and gain a different perspective.

Those thoughts really resonated with my heart. And I've actually never considered Zacchaeus a lesson on leadership, so I've stayed here in this story for several days. Reading and re-reading and each day I see something new...it's fascinating actually...

Here is the passage from The Message Luke 19:1-10

The first thing I notice is that he "wanted desperately to see Jesus". Zacchaeus had a desire, a dream. But there was some opposition to this desire. There was a crowd in his way...an obstacle to him seeing what he wanted to see. There is always opposition. Notice that he doesn't pout about it. Waaaa, there is a crowd in my way, I'll never see my desire because of this darn crowd. God, can't you do something about this crowd?

But not only does Zacchaeus have this obstacle in his way, he also has his own limitations. Poor fellow, he's short or as the Sunday School song says, he was a "wee little man". Bummer. If I were Zacchaeus...you might have heard me whine just a bit. I'm so short, I'll always be short, nothing I could do will ever make me taller. God, why did you make me this way? Why couldn't I be tall like Ricardo? :) The truth is we all have limitations that would try to keep us from our desire.

Instead of staying stuck in the muck with his obstacles and resigning himself to his limitations, Zacchaeus does two things. The passage says "he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus." He ran and he climbed. He did what he could do to see what, or in his case who, he wanted to see. He put forth some effort to gain his desire.

The amazing part is that he got so much more than he had bargained for. God is a so much more God! Not only did he get to SEE Jesus, Jesus invited himself over for dinner. Jesus said...Zacchaeus, I want to spend some time with you, let's get to know each other. You matter, You are valued. You were "out" but now you are "in". The meal they shared was so much more than food!

A funny thing happens at this point of the story and it just donned on me today. This place where Zacchaeus' running and climbing intersects with seeing Jesus is a powerful place. The Message says he just stood there, stunned and stammering. Hello! I can identify with this spot. That feeling of whoa, what is going on here? This is way more than I had hoped for and suddenly I feel really, really uncomfortable! I think this is the place where we start to get a glimpse of who Jesus says we are, who he thinks we can be even when we are are so stinkin' short! Jesus didn't dismiss the crowd or miraculously change his stature. Those things don't stand in Jesus' way.

Zacchaeus responds to the love and acceptance of Jesus by making things right with those around him. Taking care of the poor, and making restitution to those he had wronged. Jesus said "Today is salvation day in this home!". Everything changes when Jesus comes on the scene!

My favorite part of the story is summed up in Jesus' last statement. He says "for the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost". We might make the mistake of thinking that Jesus responded to Zacchaeus' efforts. Way to go Zacc, run ahead, climb the tree! You go boy! I'll be waiting for you down the road after you get your act together. Nope, thank goodness. All the while Zacchaeus is seeking to see Jesus...Jesus is seeking him. Seeking, finding and restoring the lost. Beautiful isn't it? Jesus restoring lost sons and lost daughters. Jesus restoring lost or broken desires and dreams. That's what he came to do!