Bibles verses: James 2:1-9

There was one Thanksgiving I’ll never forget! I was living in Iowa at the time, and had just gotten my first job teaching music in the public schools. Since I was far from my family in Nebraska, a Christian friend “Mary” invited me to spend Thanksgiving with her family. We arrived at the small farm where Mary’s family lived and I was all prepared for the great meal I’d grown accustomed to at Thanksgiving – turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie! Yum!

However, as the time to eat drew near, I kept hearing mention of “chicken.” “Chicken?” I thought, “on Thanksgiving??” Sure enough, when it was time to eat, my friend’s mother brought out the chicken. No turkey, no ham, no other meat – just one chicken for this Thanksgiving “feast.”

We talked about family history, and Mary’s Dad explained how he had reserved his kisses for the woman he would marry some day. Being a new Christian, this was quite a novel idea for me – that a man would respect himself and a woman enough to save the physical part of a relationship for marriage! This family laughed, prayed and showed their faith in their respect and their actions toward each other. It was a Thanksgiving I won’t forget – why? Not because of the richness of the feast, but because of the richness of the faith of this simple family. I saw the truth of James 2:5 “Didn’t God choose poor people in the world to become rich in faith. . .?”