Thanksgiving

I love this time of year; the beautiful colors, warm fires, and Thanksgiving. A gray day in the Pacific Northwest can be a wonderful thing. Grocery stores are one of my favorite destinations during this season. The ends of the aisles are packed with a cornucopia of delicious ingredients. I was at Haggen last night with my son, and my eyes and nose were filled with the wonder of bagged walnuts, condensed milk, bread crumbs for stuffing, baking flour, brown sugar, various spices and a plethora of other delightful items, not to mention the fresh baked pumpkin pies in the bakery.
Putting these earthly pleasures behind, I truly love the gathering of family. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings and parents all coming together in festive fall-colored clothing that leaves only the flesh of the face exposed. Everyone sharing pictures and stories from the past year and young parents showing off their new family additions whose presence ensures gatherings of this kind for years to come.
The pinnacle of the Thanksgiving season is giving thanks to the one and only true God of the Bible, giving Him praise and thanks first and foremost for the gift of His Son Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world who came to this earth as God in the form of man to be the one and only Way, Truth and Life.
This has, for many years, left me asking the question, "To whom is everyone else giving thanks?" The very act of giving thanks lends itself to having to give that thanks to someone or something. I obviously do not have the market cornered on praising God. When I ask my question, I am not including other God fearing believers of Jesus Christ. I am simply wondering whom atheists are thanking. How about evolutionists? Then there are those who claim to believe in nothing. Who are they thanking? No one or nothing I guess. Or perhaps in our humanistic world, they are thanking themselves. How bold to thank one's self for every good thing and for life and breath.

The Right to Vote at a Polling Place

I live in Snohomish County, located in the northwestern region of Washington State. Last year our county government decided that all registered voters would vote absentee. This means that I no longer have the right to drive to my local school library or Sons of Norway Hall and take my place in a voting booth and cast my vote. No longer will little elderly ladies greet me, whose joy is to help voters in the voting process and then place an "I Voted" sticker on your shirt or jacket.
In this past election, taking place on November 6, 2007, we once again received our absentee ballots in the mail. My wife and I then dropped them off at our local QFC grocery store. I have no problem with soldiers, shut-in folks or people working long shifts, signing up for absentee ballots, but I have a major problem with every registered voter being required to vote in this manner.
I wonder if the absentee method is really that much of a money saver. Most of the women and men at the polling places were volunteers and let us just look at the votes sent out versus the votes sent back. About 34 percent of the 333,618 ballots sent out were returned. That leaves us with a grand total of 220,250 ballots that went into the trash. How is that good stewardship? The incredible waste of paper, not to mention the printing and postage costs.
It is believed that this absentee method will encourage more people to vote. Voting is a right and a privilege. There should be effort involved. Maintaining a republic is not easy. It takes work. It takes sweat. If people choose not to make this effort or take advantage of this right, then that is their choice and they have forfeit that right.
Chances are, the people who are sending in the absentee ballots were the same folks who were greeted by those dear volunteers. Voters who would trudge through the elements to claim their right to vote.