Calvary Chapel Upland Childrens Ministry Blog

First I'd like to apologize. Because it has been a while since I've written a blog. I hope you enjoy this blog.

When I was a kid growing up after church my family would usually out to eat (most of the time it was Del Taco) after church. But sometimes we would go home and eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead. Once I found out that we were not going out to eat, I would usually complain. Have you ever complained about something like that? Now that I am older I see how blessed I was to be able to go home and have peanut butter, jelly, and bread to make a sandwich. I also see that it was a bigger blessing and privilege being able to go out to eat all of those times we did. So are there things in your life that you complain about? I think this month is a perfect month to talk about being thankful.

As most of you know this month (on Nov. 23) we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a day for us to be thankful for what God has done in our lives, in the past year. As Christians we need to be thankful every day. The first thing and most important thing that we who have accepted Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior should be that Jesus died for our sins and He has forgiven us of our sins, He has given us victory (1 Corinthians 15:57; "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.").

Even though we may thank God daily for His love for us; do we thank Him for all of our daily needs? Those times when you have to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, instead of going to a nice place to eat; do you still thank God for your sandwich? Or when you do not get what you want (such as a toy, video game, clothes, food) do you complain or do you thank God for what you already have? We need to thank God daily for everything He has given to us. We need to thank God for being so good to us. 1 Chronicles 16:34; "Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever."

Ever since I went to Mississippi (hurricane Katrina) last year for Christmas I am so thankful for so many of the things that we take for granted such as a bed to sleep in, a car, food to eat, a job, to many things to list. We need to realize how blessed we are, we have so much "stuff", some of us have too much stuff. So I encourage you to take time to thank God for everything you have, write down on a list all the things God has given to you, that you are thankful for. Trust you will be surprised if you look around and see everything God has given to you. He has given you these things because He loves you so much. Happy Thanksgiving.

* If any of you kids from Calvary Chapel Upland or any kids who visit Calvary Chapel Upland show me your list, I'll have a prize for you or you can e-mail me your list at j.arellano@ccupland.org