The other day I had the privilege of speaking with Leslie Leyland Fields editor of the book “The Spirit of Food: 34 Writers on Feasting and Fasting Toward God.” It was a very interesting and informative conversation on how we can honor God through our dining.

So often we Christians are careful about what we let into our eyes and ears, but so often we tend to be less concerned with what we put in our bellies. But just like our music, speech, and viewing choices can effect our relationship with God, so can our dining. The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Mrs. Fields shared a wealth of information on how we can dine “for the glory of God.” I’ll share just a few, and the rest will be divulged in a future Georgia Town Crier program on NewLife FM TBA.

One way we can honor God with our dining is to invite people to our kitchen table that are less fortunate. Those who cannot afford to pay us back or invite us over to their home for a meal. In this way we glorify God by sharing our abundance with the needy and help feed the poor. Another simple way to glorify God in our dining is to savor our food.

So often we tend to heap more than our fair share of food onto our plates and try to consume it in the shortest time possible. Instead let us glorify God by cutting our portion size to what we need and as we savor each fork full praise God for the wonderful flavors, aromas, bountiful blessing, and fellowship we have with friends or family who join us. As we meditate on our food, we meditate on God and our dining in a sense becomes a form of worship to our heavenly provider. For those of us with small children, you can also turn this into an opportunity to teach your kids about God during the meal.

These are just a couple quick ways we can glorify God in our dining. Throughout the holiday season, many of us will enjoy meals with friends and family. It seems dining is an important part of just about any celebration, and one day it will be a major portion of one of the greatest celebrations of all — the marriage supper between our returning King and his bride the Church. But until that day let us glorify God in all that we do, even when we eat!

Happy Thanksgiving!

You may be wondering who Lt. Col. Steve Russell (man in blue tie in picture)  is, well let me introduce you. He is one of the leaders who spearheaded the capture of Saddam Hussein and many others in Hussein’s “inner circle.”

Russell spoke recently at Rock Springs Church in Milner and Pete Chagnon host of NewLife Praise had a chance to sit down with him before the service and ask him a few questions. A podcast of the interview is available below.

Ret. Lt. Col. Steve Russell interview

Many people have had impacting influences in my life, but none as much as the WWII veterans I was privileged to know as a kid. Growing up as a young boy in Vermont, I didn’t have a strong relationship with my father. Fortunately there were a few men I could look up to and who I respected greatly.

Mr. Fondry lived a few miles from us and one summer he gave me a job mowing his lawn. After I would finish, we would sit on the front porch and talk while sipping Moxie or ice cold cokes that he would put in the freezer for an hour until they were “just right.”

It was interesting to hear how he viewed life and his thoughts on the upcoming generation, although I could tell he didn’t quite understand some aspects of my generation, he was never harsh and condemning. From time to time he would share stories about his time in the service. I remember one story about how he had to make a road for General Patton and it had to be just right. And occasionally he would show me his trophies of war which included an enemy pistol.

Then there was Mr. Buck who taught our sunday school. He was in the European theater too. Someone asked him one time if he had ever been to France, and he replied, “yes, with a rifle on my back and it wasn’t so picturesque at the time.”

Mr. Buck had a unique style of teaching Sunday school. Basically he would bring in his rather large KJV Bible and just pick a book and read it straight through verse by verse and give commentary. I’ll never forget the time we did the life of David verse by verse.

The one thing I’ll never forget about my interaction with WWII vets, is that they never demanded respect, rather they commanded respect. And I’m not talking about barking out orders commanding. You just knew when you were in their presence that something about them just made you feel like you were in the presence of someone great.

I get that same feeling when I run into anyone wearing the uniform of this country today. You just know these individuals understand the cost of freedom. They paid the price. Thank you to all the veterans. May God bless each and everyone of you!

Nothing says fall is here more than pumpkins, holiday baking, and sharathon at NewLife FM!

Speaking of fall baking, this morning my wife made the most delicious pumpkin muffins to go with our morning coffee. My little girls enjoyed the tasty treats as well and we had good fellowship around the breakfast table. It was so enjoyable to spend time together as a family, and that reminded me of our fall sharathon which is approaching Nov. 13th-18th.

These coming sharathon days will be so enjoyable to us here at NewLife FM because, much like my family’s breakfast, this will be a time for us to “sit around the table” and enjoy fellowship. Most of the time the conversation is one way on the radio, as in we do all the talking and the playing of music, teaching programs, etc.

But November 13th-18th we invite you to be a vital part of the conversation! Let us know how you’ve been doing this year when you call in to pledge your faith-promise gifts. You are a vital part in the NewLife FM family!

Our “theme” this fall sharathon is “Magnify the Lord!” Your faith-promise gifts are in a sense a bullhorn that the gospel of Christ is “magnified” through. And that bullhorn sits on top of the “high towers” of NewLife FM on 90.7, 91.7, and 107.1!

Thank you so much for your support and we look forward to seeing you at the “table” of sharathon as we break bread together and catch up on how the Lord has been working throughout the year. See y’all November 13th-18th!

Link to the recipe for Pumpkin Muffins!

http://americanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/Pumpkin_Muffins.htm?r=facebook