Did You Know These 4 Thanksgiving Facts?

As you prepare for this week’s Thanksgiving holiday, perhaps the following trivia will be of interest around the dinner table:

• Domestic turkeys are slow-moving and unable to fly, but their wild relatives can run at up to 25 miles per hour and fly at speeds approaching 55 miles an hour.
• If Benjamin Franklin had his way, the turkey would be the national bird of the United States. Does this mean we would be eating bald eagle this Thursday? Probably not.
• Macy’s didn’t sponsor the first Thanksgiving parade. That honor goes to Gimbels, a department store in Philadelphia that sponsored a parade in 1920, four years before Macy’s did.
• On Thanksgiving Day in 2007, two turkeys earned a trip to Disney World. They were pardoned by President George W. Bush and flown from the White House to Orlando, where they served as honorary grand marshals for the Disney World Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Here’s another fact: Thanksgiving is the favorite holiday of only 2 percent of Americans. God disagrees. His Word is clear: “In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (1 Thess. 5:18).

In this week’s Daily Articles, we will seek reasons and ways to give thanks to our Lord. Let’s begin by noting that November is National Adoption Month. This emphasis is especially appropriate for Christians. Our sins orphaned us from our holy Father, but His Son died in our place and purchased our salvation. As a result, all Christians have received “the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!'” (Rom. 8:15).

Now we have the privilege of sharing with others the saving grace we have received. How does this calling relate to adoption?

Albert Reyes is president and CEO of Buckner International, an extremely effective ministry to vulnerable children, seniors and families. Dr. Reyes recently noted that more than 107,000 children are in foster care at any given time across the U.S. A bed shortage in Texas is forcing many children to sleep on the floor of Child Protective Services offices, where CPS workers supervise them overnight. Almost 28,000 Texas children are in foster care and need a permanent home.

What can we do to share the adopting grace of God with children in need? I invite you to take four steps today.

1. Read Cynthia Yanof’s article on foster parenting. Cynthia serves as executive coordinator for our ministry. She and her husband became foster parents several months ago. She recently told their story on our Christian Parenting website. Her article describes perfectly the joys and challenges of becoming foster parents.

2. Visit the website of BraveLove, a wonderful ministry that encourages adoption. Here you will find inspiring stories that show the transforming difference adoption can make in the lives of children and parents.

3. Visit the Buckner International website, where you will find practical ways to become a foster or adoptive parent.

4. Pray. Ask the Lord if He wants you to become a foster parent or adopt a child. Please join me in praying for children in need of parents as well as parents who could help more children.

It is impossible to spell “thanksgiving” without “giving.” Who deserves the gift of our compassion more than a child?