Thanksgiving Prayer, Poems and Quotes for Thanksgiving Day 2009

Happy ThanksgivingHappy Thanksgiving to all my readers! Gobble Gobble! As you celebrate Thanksgiving Day with your family and close friends, be sure to say a prayer for those less fortunate than yourselves, for our military and their families, and those who have recently lost a loved one in death. Here are a few Thanksgiving Prayers and poems collected from the net for your consideration. If you have a Thanksgiving prayer you wish to share, please leave a comment below. Happy Thanksgiving and blessings to all of you as you enjoy your Thanksgiving Day meal celebration with loved ones. Bring on the football game (and then a well deserved nap!)

Thanksgiving Prayer

“Loving Merciful God, We give You thanks for the creation of this world; it is a wonder and a blessing which should give us pause to offer You thanks. Creator, we are blessed by such little-big things as the air we breathe and the water we drink, these little-big things that fill our lives with the elements of living, but are commonly overlooked for we do not always stop to think about the wonders of the world which are working. We know that in Your time and space all will been done to fulfill Your glory, Your plans for us. We are reminded by Your Word in the Scripture 1Thessalonians 5:18 to be joyful always, pray continually, and give thanks in all things for this was Your will for us in Christ Jesus.
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The Easy Way to Stop Smoking is The Best Way to Quit Smoking

Quit SmokingThere are many ways to quit smoking cigarettes, and since I finally quit smoking, I’m here to tell you that the best way to quit smoking is by what I believe to be the easy way to quit once and for all. Any smoker who wants to quit smoking cigarettes (and those who don’t want to quit) can give you a laundry list of reasons why quitting is good for you and the healthy thing to do, to the point where repeating the reasons to quit starts sounding like a broken record and smokers want to say “Shut Up!” to family or friends with their well-intentioned barrage of requests to quit.

Smokers know the health risks and dangers associated with smoking cigarettes or cigars, or even the health risks involved with chewing tobacco products, but nicotine addiction keeps smokers smoking and dippers dipping despite the risks or harmful effects, and all the begging and nagging to quit smoking or chewing tobacco sounds like “blah blah blah” to smokers and tobacco users, which won’t help get loved ones to quit.

Reading various myths about quitting smoking or hearing about all the bad things that can happen because of physical withdrawal, such as having to cope with nasty nicotine withdrawal symptoms (like the feeling of wanting to rip someone’s head off for making you mad), is enough to cause some hardened smokers to keep on smoking.
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Give Up Coffee? Why Should I Stop Drinking Coffee?

My Coffee AddictionGive up coffee? Who, me? Why should I stop drinking coffee when I like the taste of coffee? Can someone really be addicted to caffeine in coffee? Maybe, maybe not, depending on which research studies and health experts you believe. Almost every morning I enjoy two or three cups of home-brewed coffee to start my day, and it’s not uncommon for me to have two more cups of coffee at night while writing or watching television, especially on cold winter nights.

If drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee or two first thing in the morning doesn’t give you a jolt of energy to get your day started, reading the “evidence” about how caffeine is addictive and all the reasons why you or I should stop drinking coffee will be enough to give you jitters that last all day long. If the amount of coffee and tea I drink on a daily basis makes me a caffeine addict, then coffee addiction is an addiction I’m content to accept being what it is.

Are you a caffeine addict? Are you one of millions of Americans who kick-start their day getting a Starbucks coffee caffeine fix one or more times a day? I haven’t been to a Starbucks coffee shop in years because, as you know, you can make coffee at home and it’s a lot cheaper than buying coffee at 7-11 or Starbucks. I’m not even sure how much a cup of coffee at Starbucks costs these days, but I can think of many other more important things to do with my money than spending it on an expensive Starbucks latte or espresso.
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Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Hodgkin’s Disease. Cancer. My Father

Hodgkins DiseaseHodgkin’s Lymphoma. Cancer. My dad has been diagnosed with B type Hodgkins Lymphoma and my mind is racing a mile a minute. I just received a phone call from my mother telling me the news, and I can’t quite wrap my mind around what she was telling me.

People that know me and my background know that I don’t often hear from my mother. Seeing their phone number appear on the Caller ID immediately makes me think someone in the family was seriously injured in an accident, is very ill or dead. I haven’t heard from my father since 1995, because I chose to leave the religion I was born into, and the results of that choice were automatic and immediate.

In the eyes of my father and most of my siblings, I died in 1995. All because of my personal decision to leave a religious organization I no longer wanted to be a part of. My mother tends to think of me as being in some sort of coma, hoping that I’ll somehow “come to my senses” and take the required and necessary steps to rejoin the religion.

Doing so would mean I would have been miraculously “resurrected from the dead”, where family members and old friends (who haven’t spoken to me since 1995) would suddenly welcome me back with open arms. Not gonna happen. Ever.

My parents live in Dallas, which is only about a 30-minute drive from our house. Having family members living in such close proximity to our house, but rarely hearing from or seeing any of them, is something I’ve never quite gotten used to. The wounds from the past run very deep, and try as I may to “forgive and forget” everything that happened, forgiving and moving on is easier than the ability to actually forget.
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Deaths in Threes – Do Deaths Come in 3 or Do Celebrity Deaths Come in Threes

Janet Jackson BET Awards“Deaths occur in threes. If one person in your family dies, two more will within a short period of time.” Do deaths come in threes or is it just an old wives tale? There’s been a lot of discussion in the last few days that deaths always happen in threes or celebrity deaths come in threes, and questions about where the “deaths come in 3” tale came from.

My understanding is that the origin of the old wives tale or legend about deaths occurring in threes came from the first world war. When the men would light their cigarettes they knew not to use 3 on a match because the enemy could pinpoint them and shoot them from the light of the match being lit so long.

The myth about deaths in threes is often used as proof regarding “notable”, famous celebrities, but people tend to forget about the deaths of celebrities who may not be quite as famous and well known around the world as others who have died.

Some people also claim that the deaths in threes rule applies to deaths occurring within 3 days of each other, while others claim the myth applies to deaths happening “within a short period of time” according to the legend.

The Wall Street Journal listed some “deaths in threes” examples like this:

• Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the “Big Bopper” all died together in a plane crash in 1959
• Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died in close succession in 1970-71
• In 2003, Johnny Cash, John Ritter, and Warren Zevon all died within the same week
• In 2005, King Fahd, Peter Jennings and Robin Cook died within a week of each other
• The following year brought the closely timed deaths of Don Knotts, Darren McGavin and Dennis Weaver
• Heath Ledger, Suzanne Pleshette and Brad Renfro all died within a week of each other in January 2008

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OK Magazine Michael Jackson Cover Picture of Michael Jackson’s Death Photo

Michael Jackson DiedOK! Magazine has sunk to a new low. OK Magazine paid $500000 for a cover “death photo” of Michael Jackson on a stretcher, as emergency personnel tried to revive the dying star, which has created quite a controversy amongst Michael Jackson fans, the pathetic magazine’s advertisers and the music community.

The OK! Magazine Michael Jackson cover picture is all over the internet now, and I can only imagine how upsetting and heart-wrenching the circulation of this photo must be for the Jackson family.

You may now add OK! Magazine to the list of other tabloid rags to line your birdcage with. Or, better yet, unsubscribe today from the magazine and don’t buy the rag-mag ever again.

The OK Magazine cover picture of Michael Jackson’s last moments has fans outraged at the despicable, disrespectful and outrageous decision to plaster a death photo of Jackson on its latest issue released today.

OK! Magazine claims the cover picture to be a Michael Jackson tribute, supposedly in an attempt to honor and memorialize the King of Pop for Jackson fans. The media circus surrounding Michael Jackson’s death and upcoming funeral arrangements exemplifies how low photographers, television and magazine reporters will go to make a buck.

Sarah Ivens, editorial director at OK!, told MediaWeek.com that she thought the dying Jackson photo would differentiate OK! from the other magazines running tribute issues this week.

“It’s a photo that captures the surprise and the upset and the moment of this breaking news story. I hope the cover will provoke readers. It celebrated the man, but it also does expose that he was an eccentric character who lived a very controversial life.”

FAIL!

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