There are two elements to holding a thanksgiving celebration: you have to be thankful for something and you have to be thankful to someone.

It’s easy in our busy lives to forget to have a thankful heart. It starts with understanding all the good things that inhabit our lives.

When it comes to thanking someone, this is where atheists fall short. What is the point of being thankful if there is no one to thank? Are they thankful to our ancestors for settling America? Why thank someone who “doesn’t exist” anymore?

Thanksgiving in America is based on a grateful people who acknowledge all the goodness that comes from God and Jesus Christ.

That’s our history.

The Puritans didn’t come to America to produce a green planet or explore science or build expensive universities. They came here to escape religious persecution in Europe where politics and organized religion took precedence over faith.

They wanted to worship Christ freely. And they were very thankful for the opportunity. For a long time, America has been the beacon of religious freedom for the entire world.

What a great legacy.

So, are we a “thankful people” these days?

Yes and no. We have pushed God out of our public schools. We don’t let people pray over the loudspeaker before high school football games. We have embraced abortion (more than 50 million babies killed in the last three decades). We condone divorce, fornication, adultery, homosexuality and avarice.

America seems to have a “post Christian” culture. Anything goes.

When Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is asked about abstaining from sex until marriage, his affirmative answer is laughed at by sportswriters at his press conference. Fidelity is ridiculed while lasciviousness, gambling and licentiousness reign.

That kind of behavior doesn’t show a thankful spirit, does it?

Not everybody has been sucked into that vortex of humanism.

Here’s what we should be thankful for.

How about three square meals a day? There is no excuse for anyone to go hungry in America. Being fed is not a right (you don’t work, you don’t eat - that’s in the Bible) but we are a compassionate and wealthy folk who will not allow anyone to starve. We help those who cannot work. Each culture is judged by how it treats its weakest members.

How about security? I go to bed at night and I don’t worry about armed thugs breaking into my house and dragging me off to prison. If I am attacked, I have a reasonable expectation that law enforcement will try to find those criminals who assaulted me and bring them to justice. This does not always work perfectly but trust me, it works better here than in any other country in the world.

How about freedom of expression? In many places in this world, I couldn’t publish a column like this or a paper like the Tulsa Beacon. Criticism of the rulers has to be curbed or go underground. This is a great freedom and it is critical to our future.

How about the chance to succeed? America is different from most of the world in this one respect - we have a middle class. In most countries, there are a few very wealthy individuals, a lot of really poor people and hardly anyone in between. Here, a poor child can pull himself up by his bootstraps and be a captain of industry, a sports star or successful professional.

A prescription for America can be found in the Book of Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Jeremiah was a 20-year-old prophet called by God to take His message to an apostate nation of Judah. Judah and its king were about to be overtaken by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in punishment for the people turning away from God.

Hope was not lost. Jeremiah told the king that if the people would confess their sin and turn from their evil ways, God would restore their land.

They didn’t, but America can.

We need to call sin a sin. There is right and there is wrong. Relativism won’t cut it.

As individuals and as a nation, we need to turn our hearts toward God and Jesus Christ. We need to get rid of political correctness and thank the good Lord above for his centuries of blessing.

At Thanksgiving, my family sits around the dinner table and we talk about what we are thankful for. When you hear others talk about, it is a lot.

But most important is who we give thanks to. Without God, there’s no point to the Thanksgiving holiday.

• Working Man Blues

My first job was working in an orange juice factory, but I got canned … couldn’t concentrate.

Then I worked in the woods as a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it, so …they gave me the ax.

After that I tried to be a tailor, but I just wasn’t suited for it. Mainly because …it was a so-so job.

Next I tried working in a muffler factory, but that …was exhausting.

I wanted to be a barber, but …I just couldn’t cut it.

Then I tried to be a chef — figured it would add a little spice to my life, but I just …didn’t have the thyme.

I attempted to be a deli worker, but any way I sliced it, I…couldn’t cut the mustard.

My best job was being a musician, but eventually I found …I wasn’t noteworthy.

I studied a long time to become a doctor, but I…didn’t have any patients.

Next was a job in a shoe factory; I tried but I …just didn’t fit in.

I became a professional fisherman, but discovered that I …couldn’t live on my net income.

Thought about becoming a witch, so I …tried that for a spell.

I managed to get a good job working for a pool-maintenance company, but the work was …just too draining.

I got a job at a zoo feeding giraffes, but I was fired because I …wasn’t up to it.

So then I got a job in a fitness-center, but they said I …wasn’t fit for the job.

Next, I found being an electrician interesting, but the work was shocking and I …was discharged.

After many years of trying to find steady work I finally got a job as a historian until I realized there was …no future in it.

My last job was working at Starbucks, but I had to quit because it …was always the same old grind.

• The new father ran out of the delivery room and announced to the rest of his family who were waiting for the news: “We had twins!”

The family was so excited they immediately asked, “Who do they look like?”

The father paused, smiled, and said, “Each other!”

This entry was posted on Friday, November 27th, 2009 and is filed under Columns.