Will You Trade Places with Me?

About a month ago, we had a native of Antigua, Guatemala as a guest speaker where I preach. During his lesson, our brother made what seemed to be an off-hand remark. It didn’t seem “scripted.” It just seemed to happen.

At one point in his presentation, he was talking about our nation. He shared with us his opinion that we are blessed to live in the greatest nation in the world. He made it clear that his opinion was that of an “outsider.” Brother Isaacs was also talking about the fact that he is not a citizen of our nation. 

During the portion of his presentation in which he was talking about our nation, he made a couple of statements and asked a question that still rings in my ears. His statements were to let us know that he is, in fact, not a citizen of the United States and that he would like to be. It was at that point that he looked at one of our members and delivered the “off the cuff remark” that has stuck with me ever since:

“Will you trade places with me?

I thought that, just before our national holiday we call Thanksgiving Day, it might be a good time to remind all of us that there are millions, if not billions, of people in the world who would trade places with any one of us in a heartbeat. That, in itself, is something for which to be thankful. 

I am very well aware of the fact that, as a nation, we have drifted a long, long way from the moorings that were dear to our Founding Fathers as they began this grand experiment called “The United States of America.” At the same time, I am also well aware of the fact that we are, indeed, blessed more than many of us realize to be able to be citizens of this wonderful nation. Hopefully, our brother’s remark will help us to express our gratitude to God every day for blessing us so richly. Hopefully, too, it will encourage us to pray and work in order to make this a nation which is, in fact, under God. That will be my prayer this Thanksgiving Day.

I hope that you and your family have a wonderful day this Thursday. I hope that the day will help you to remember all of your blessings and the One who is responsible for them.

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