In this heartfelt episode, we explore the immeasurable blessings that come with living in America, the greatest nation in history according to many. We dive into the themes of gratitude, liberty, and the role of biblical principles in guiding family values and societal norms. This discussion is set in the backdrop of Thanksgiving—a time to reflect on what we are truly grateful for. Through stories of forefathers and pilgrims, we conjure a sense of appreciation for those who built this nation with a deep sense of gratitude and duty.
The Crawford Stand with the president of Crawford Media Group, Don Crawford, who all this week has been giving thanks for God and country.
SPEAKER 03 :
We the people, so privileged to live in America, have so much to be thankful for, do we not? God has allowed us to live in the greatest nation in human history, in my opinion. how grateful we should be. I say, thanks be to God for his incredible gifts to mankind, and especially to you and me. There are so many things to be thankful for, and we should approach this wonderful time of year with gratitude, and Thanksgiving Day and Thanksgiving Week, and in fact, all year long, we should give thanks. Give thanks. Are you a thankful person? And you are thankful, are you not, my fellow Americans, for so much, so much that you have, so many opportunities that you have, and the life which God has given you to lead. You are thankful and grateful, are you not? You should be. Our forefathers, as they established America, one of a kind, the pilgrims and others did exactly that. They gave thanks over and over again. Those who came first to America brought with them a deeply rooted sense of gratitude for all good things. They were grateful to God for everything, the great giver of all things. They thanked their God with works and prayers, and they set aside a day in the fall after harvest to be especially thankful for all that God’s earth had bestowed. They set aside Thanksgiving Day to be grateful and to celebrate. The harvest reaped assured them of survival and prosperity during the harsh winter to come, and they were grateful the earth gave and they harvested. The earth bestowed the bounty of God, and they reaped the harvest with gratitude and with thanksgiving. Even as they, the first ones here, thank the God Creator for these unspeakable, incredible gifts, so should we. So, my fellow Americans, amidst the fun and fellowship of the Thanksgiving Day and week, we should set aside time to be grateful. We should tell others of our gratitude, and in a world so often negative and spiteful, let our attitude be positive and think on those things which are good, for there are so many of them. when households and humans the world over die every day. We should be grateful for life, for living, for the lifestyle we enjoy. The opportunity for life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness is everywhere for us. I say thanks be to God. We can start by serving Him and others. We can work and be productive. We can learn and train. We can earn and profit and grow, grow personally and professionally in so many ways. And we can do that every day, every single day, and especially the day which the Lord hath made, the Thanksgiving Day. Thanks be to God for opportunity, for the freedom which creates that opportunity. I hope and pray we never lose that. So we celebrate life, and we who are pro-life pray that there may be no abortion. Don’t you do that? Boy, I do. that life man and woman and family will be governed by biblical principles that the elderly will be loved and live as long as possible that we will educate and train up our young in the right ways so that when they are mature they will take responsibility for our great country, protect the American way of life, and revive us again with a deep sense of morality. Oh, how I pray for that. How thankful so many of us would be for such a revival, the revival of love and respect, and especially for our Lord and indeed for our great country. We should help them learn the lessons of grateful hearts, our children, those whom God has entrusted to us. And surely Thanksgiving week we should be grateful for family and friends, should we not? Those closest to us may be the least appreciated. We should share our love with them and tell them our feelings. We should thank them, love them for all that they do and all that they are. There are those who do so much and give so much to us without thanks, without thanks. especially like a loving spouse. And our children, when’s the last time you told them you loved them? Spreading their love and joy. And for our friends, ready in our time of need, sharing life with us and making it better. we should not only be grateful and thankful for them, but tell them so, tell them so, and share the love we feel for them, so that we honor our Lord at Thanksgiving not only with love for Him, but others as well, our neighbors, even as we love ourselves. If you were to see them and be with them perhaps for the last time, what would you say? Thanksgiving gives you the opportunity to say it. And surely we are thankful for our freedoms, are we not? For our great Constitution, our Bill of Rights, our Declaration of Independence, our rule of law at work, and the freedom we enjoy to pursue life, liberty, and happiness as we choose. No one, no entity, no government can tell us what we should do. We can define our own happiness and pursue it as we wish. We can feel the joy of living as we wish. And perhaps as much as anything at this special time, we should be thankful, thankful, really, truly thankful for this. And surely Thanksgiving and its week gives us the opportunity to celebrate, and joyfully so. Most of us can enjoy wonderful food, for which we should be thankful. And the aromas of turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce, good stuff, is it not? Oh, how good it would be if we could make certain that others less fortunate could enjoy what we enjoy so well. We should be grateful Thanksgiving Day and week and all year long for the food of the harvest we enjoy as our forefathers did. Even as we partake of the fellowship of family and friends and the fun and the good times of the day and of course for so many the football and we should do all of that. It’s a joyful part of Thanksgiving. And as we eat the bread of the day, we should remember the bread of life, the one who came for us and makes life so worth living. Even as we enjoy the fruits of the plains, so we should rejoice even more so in the fruits of the Spirit, in all things giving thanks, thanks to the God who indeed blesses America. I remember so vividly as a young boy at Thanksgiving, our family traditionally traveled to a local orphanage, and there we sang and witnessed to them in word and song. We brought them joy and blessings and provided them with Thanksgiving food. Our family Thanksgiving day started with that special blessing for them, for others, but even more so for us. And even as we gave, we got more in return. Then our family headed back home, where our family tradition included a spirited touch football game on the front lawn of our home. More games and more fun and more fellowship and more laughter and more joy. It was a wondrous time for our family. The joy of the Lord was abundant in our household, and we were truly grateful. We were truly grateful and thankful to God for father and mother, for home, for each other, our siblings, and for food, and for everything we were given. We were safe and secure, wrapped in the arms of love and joy. Oh, how wonderful that was. I hope you’ve experienced some of that in your life. And we think of the world at large, wars and rumors of wars, terrorism abounds, and the threat of that even in our own country. There is North Korea with incredible nuclear capability, seemingly ready to strike even our beloved America. And Iran, and Russia, and China, so that the world is at war or gets ready for it. We have been ordained, we have been privileged to live in these times, perhaps the end times, which should cause us to be even more thankful for what we have. Never taking for granted, never assuming the future, but living with thanks for the very day and the opportunity it brings. We who can and will enjoy the spirit of thanksgiving should do our very best to spread that to a needy world. And the best of that, of course, is the bread of life, the salt and light of Jesus Christ. I hope you feel the same way. We should spread that message the world over and give thanks to God for the opportunity. Only that message, that person, can solve the world’s problems, in my opinion, and make all humankind loving and grateful. Only Him. So often we sing or recite the words of God Bless America, for it is in fact our home sweet home. But God has already blessed America and all of us in so many ways. We have had the best of everything. Our lifestyle has been exceptional. America is, in fact, an exceptional country in so many ways, and we should make certain that this, our land of plenty, shares that plenty, all that bounty, with all of our fellow citizens. Thanksgiving gives us that very special opportunity to share in that way, and that is a wondrous blessing and produces some of the most marvelous feelings. And as we continue to pray for our great country, we should ask the God of all blessings to stand beside her and guide her Guide her through the night and with the bright light from above and the gospel at all times. For the moral light of America has been dimmed and we are no longer the beacon on the hill we once were. And we should resolve at Thanksgiving to be a part of a new reformation, a new revival, grateful and thankful hearts returning to the very highest spiritual principles. That is real thanksgiving at work. We should resolve to turn from our wrongful ways. We should pray for God’s help. We should seek His guidance and wisdom. And above all, as 2 Chronicles tells us, we should humble ourselves before our God. And when we do all four, We will be heard, and change, fundamental moral and loving change, will occur in our great country and in us. Thanksgiving should motivate us to do that. The blessings of God do in fact exist from the mountains, and to the prairies, and to the oceans, white with foam. God has blessed America with an uniqueness we should never, ever take for granted. And at this wonderful season, we should be especially thankful for our home sweet home. And for all of those great and brave men and women who have fought and died for our freedoms, we owe them gratitude this day and, in fact, at all times. If you see them, bless them with your compliments and thanks. Especially at Thanksgiving time, the words of that great song, God Bless America, should ring out. with love and gratitude, hear the words, God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above, from the mountains to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam. Oh, God bless America. God bless America. My home sweet home. God bless America. My and your home sweet home. I personally am so thankful for the Christian faith, for the love and salvation of Jesus Christ, which is mine. I have experienced that spiritual harvest, and I have so personally enjoyed and partaken of the blessings of the salt and light of the Word. Life has for me been so much more meaningful, and I treasure and am so thankful for such wonderful blessings in my life. And so, I personally say, thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift in Jesus Christ, and I do hope and pray for the very same for you. May you and all mankind experience that love and that salvation so that you can say at Thanksgiving time and every day this marvelous prayer,
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Thank you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me whole. Thank you, Lord, for giving to me thy great salvation, so full and free.
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And as well, gratefully and prayerfully, our grateful hearts should sing these wonderful words.
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Oh, beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, for purple mountain majesties above the fruited plains. America, America, God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea.
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God bless you, my fellow Americans, at Thanksgiving time and always.
SPEAKER 01 :
It would touch Mr. Crawford’s heart to know that you share his thanks for God and country. Tell him in your email to stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you write, be sure to tell Mr. Crawford on what station you hear the stand. He’d love to hear from you this week. His address again is stand at CrawfordMediaGroup.net. When you want to review what you hear, go to our website, CrawfordMediaGroup.net. The Crawford Stand is a public affairs presentation of Crawford Media Group and this station. So thankful for God and country. I’m Bill McCormick.
