Old Dog V
All Those Turkeys
Bob Neumann, 11/2004
Last night my wife asked what I wanted for Thanksgiving dinner. While turkey is traditional there are some choices. Cajun Deep Fried, Smoked Turkey, Roasted Turkey, Mesquite turkey breast….. and of course glazed spiral ham. I suggested how about “smoked turkey”, and my wife commented “too dry”. So I stayed silent…if I can not guess what my wife wants the first try….my second and third are always worse.
So I went up to the bedroom anticipating actually sleeping but just could not “get comfortable”. So I got up and put an old ISRAEL’S HOPE cd on and just worshipped. When it got to the song that went “O GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD, CALL UPON HIS NAME….” I heard a most familiar VOICE ask a question. “REMEMBER ALL THOSE TURKEYS?”. And I thought immediately…. remember all those TURKEYS?….how can I forget.
In the last week I have had my problems, we all have problems. Issues about MERCY and SUFFERING, TITHING and GIVING, WARFARE and HARVEST. This week amerika will celebrate THANKSGIVING. Basically what we have is a nice long weekend and lots of leftovers to devour watching football games. Few will remember the origin of this FEAST OF REMEMBRANCE…few will actually care in this “land of plenty”.
It is easy to forget the BLESSINGS and GRACE of ABBA when things are going well. When things go bad, we are screaming and demanding quick response time. Sometimes you have to remember who your Daddy is…. and all that HE HAS DONE FOR US…
I remember the TURKEYS quite well. Mainly because it was the Thanksgiving after Hurricane Andrew hit us hard in southern Dade County. Over three months had passed and we still had our roof covered with plastic sheets and tarps. About 40% of our roof had been blown completely off and all the insulation had been sucked out and scattered all over the Everglades. So the slightly cooler weather was most welcome.
In previous years the hospital I worked for gave turkeys to all employees. This years rumors were flying about changes in management…bankruptcy…. and no turkeys. The hospital and the corporation were in serious trouble. In the next year the hospital would be sold to another corporation, so some of the rumors had some foundation. But I had worked there over 10 years…hadn’t bought a turkey for thanksgiving in years.
And me being cheap…I mean a good steward…I knew there would be sales on turkey…and did not worry. Since Andrew I was averaging over 56 hours a week and the overtime jumped my taxes horribly…so I could afford to buy a turkey. But a few weeks before TURKEY DAY at a meeting of men’s ministry we got into how THE LORD had done such great things for so many of us in this period after Andrew. And I mentioned that OUR GOD sees to our needs and will PROVIDE…MORE THAN ENOUGH. Of course I still had a job, my house though badly damaged was “livable”…(my opinion, my wife did not agree)….so I understood how many of these guys had been pushed to the breaking point and were barely holding on day by day.
So Tuesday morning I went from work to the local Winn-Dixie. I bought a turkey…real cheap…my wife was not happy because it was “too big” and not a “butterball”. 16 pounds was the smallest of the cheaper birds they had left. So I made room in the fridge and went to sleep. Work that night was the usual and about 6 am the hospital CEO came into the ICU. He had spent the night arguing with corporate types and found the other CEO’s of the other hospitals in the corporation had chipped in and he got turkeys for all the employees.
Like I said I am cheap. And I had at home a near empty chest freezer that I had got all the mildew out of after Andrew cut out our electricity for 13 days. So I took it home. Went to put it in the freezer and found two turkeys already there. My wife did not tell me that her hospital decided to give out turkeys, they had never done it before and never would again. I worked there part time…so she got two turkeys….each less than 16lbs…no butterball… but they were free.
That afternoon I had a friend stop by. His church was passing out food baskets and he wanted to “bless” me because of the joint work several of our churches had done. I tried to refuse…and realized I would hurt some feelings needlessly. So now I had 5 turkeys. That evening someone else came by, from the church I attended …he had spent hours delivering turkeys…he had two left and wanted to bless me….. I wonder if Trey remembers….he knew I had a near empty chest freezer. I had room for a few extra TURKEYS….. actually Trey supplied us with turkeys several times over the years…
Now I had 7 turkeys….the eighth came from my sister in law. She had been given a turkey from the hospital she worked for…several years later after much help cooked her first American turkey. She and her husband and son were going to eat with us…which is why I thought 16lbs was not too big….but her husband was invited to Orlando…soooo they went and left us their bird because they had no freezer space. By this time neither did we.
On THANKSGIVING DAY the year Hurricane Andrew went by I was sitting in front of the TV as my wife and kids headed out to see a movie. I was stuffed and turned off the TV at half time. AND I pondered…and I thought of an old Bing Crosby song about COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS. So I started…missed the whole 3rd quarter. That night when wife Mila, daughter Jennifer, and son Andrew were all snoring up a storm I walked through the house giving thanks and worshipping. Telling my ABBA how wonderful HE WAS/IS/WILL ALWAYS BE. I thanked him for keeping my wife and children safe THROUGH THE STORM…thanked HIM for not knocking down the hospitals we worked at so we did not loose our jobs. Thanked HIM for toilets that flushed and for AIR CONDITIONING. Thanked HIM for all HIS SAINTS in my life and my new brother TREY HE had brought down after the STORM.
But I did ask HIM why all the TURKEYS….it had amazed me how they kept coming from all directions. and all I heard was “JUST REMEMBER”.
But I had not thought about it in years. Funny how it came back now. So I actually had forgotten. I wonder how much we have all forgotten….until THE MOST HOLY SPIRIT brings things to remembrance.
Selah old dog
Up Next: Spiritual Warfare 101