Tis The Season To Gripe and Grumble

Nehemiah 9: 15 - 22
You gave them bread from heaven when they were hungry and water from the rock when they were thirsty. You commanded them to go and take possession of the land you had sworn to give them. But our ancestors were a proud and stubborn lot, and they refused to obey your commands. They refused to listen and did not remember the miracles you had done for them. Instead, they rebelled and appointed a leader to take them back to their slavery in Egypt! But you are a a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and full of unfailing love and mercy. You did not abandon them, even though they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, "This is your god who brought you of of Egypt!" They sinned and committed terrible blasphemies. But in your great mercy you did not abandon them to die in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud still led them forward by day, and the pillar of fire showed them the way through the night. You sent your good Spirit to instruct them, and you did not stop giving them bread from heaven or water for their thirst. For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They laced nothing in all that time. Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell!

God is faithful always....
Even when we are not.
It seems that the world (in particular..the US of A) has lost the ability to be thankful. I turn on the TV and I see people protesting against what they don't have. They scream and yell and shake their fist (mainly for the cameras) and rail against the perceived notion of unfairness in this country. I'm not hear to debate one way or the other. I am just confounded by the ungratefulness that people show. It's like nothing is ever good enough. That people don't have enough, so they complain and grip and grumble.
In the verses above from the book of Nehemiah, we read of God's faithfulness balanced against the unfaithfulness of the Israelites. God took care of them for 40 years, yet all they did was complain about they way God was taking care of them. "I hate this manna.....it's manna in the morning, manna in the evening, manna at supper time." Yet this manna, which was bread from heaven, didn't cost them anything other than a little bit of labor to go and harvest what they needed just for that day. \

I do not ever want to forget the things God has done for me and my family. Maybe that is why Christmas is so important to me. It is a time to actually take stock of the year and how God has sustained us since last Christmas. To celebrate the triumphs of family and grieve over defeats or failures. It doesn't matter which it is, we are family so we share together.
Today I am grateful for Rapha.
I am grateful to Steve and Marilyn for answering God's call and letting him work through them to establish this place.
I am grateful to Bill who gave of himself to serve God here at Rapha.
I am grateful to Gene and Mike for taking up the mantle and bringing fresh vision to Rapha.
I am grateful for Barry for bringing to the table a new way of continuing the mission here at Rapha.
I am thankful for Brenden and Jeff as God has added to the Rapha family two men who serve in ways that amaze me.
I am thankful for Wayne and Debbie for following me all these years and for the heart of worship they bring to Rapha every Saturday night.
I am thankful for Rainnie (Spell?) and the quirky view of life that God has placed in him. For placing him as our leader and giving him vision for the future.
I am thankful for my wife and Deb for being called here to Rapha to serve.
It is truly a wonderful thing for me to be co-laborers with my wife in what God is doing here at Rapha.
I am thankful for each man who comes through the program.
I am thankful for you, O'Lord, for giving me a home in which to serve you.

Merry Christmas!
mb