Preparing the Turkey, Preparing Your Heart

Thanksgiving isn’t just about the meal—it’s about the preparation. Anyone who has ever cooked a turkey knows you can’t just toss it in the oven or smoker and expect a perfectly juicy bird. It takes intentionality. For the past few years, I have cooked our Thanksgiving turkey on our Kamado Joe smoker. Preparing a turkey on a Kamado Joe requires specific steps to ensure it’s ready to delight everyone at the table later in the day. 

You defrost it well in advance, brine and season it, let it rest, heat your grill to just the right temperature, and monitor it carefully as it cooks. Without proper preparation, the centerpiece of the feast wouldn’t turn out right. 

In the same way, preparing our hearts for Thanksgiving Day doesn’t happen by accident. Just as we carefully prepare the turkey to be a blessing for the table, we need to take steps to prepare our hearts to be ready for the feast of gratitude that God calls us to enjoy.

The Psalms offer the perfect recipe for prepping our hearts. By reflecting on who God is—His character—and what He has done—His works—we “season” our souls with reminders of His goodness, faithfulness, and power. When we take time to meditate on these truths, our hearts are primed to offer true thanksgiving, making the day more than just about food and family but a time of genuine worship and gratitude.

 The Steps to Prepare the Turkey and Your Heart

Step 1: Defrost the Bird (or Your Heart)

Defrosting the turkey is essential—it can’t absorb flavor or cook properly if it’s frozen solid. Similarly, our hearts can’t overflow with thanksgiving if they’re frozen by busyness, stress, or distraction. Taking time to slow down and reflect on the Psalms “defrosts” our hearts, making them tender and receptive.

  • “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night.” (Psalm 92:1-2)

  • “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)

 

Step 2: Brine and Season (Infuse Gratitude)

Brining or seasoning the turkey ensures it’s flavorful and moist. For our hearts, meditating on God’s character and works infuses gratitude into our lives. The Psalms season our hearts with reminders of God’s goodness, faithfulness, and power, ensuring our thanksgiving is rich and meaningful.

  • “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 107:1)

  • “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.” (Psalm 9:1)

 

Step 3: Preheat the Grill (Prepare the Atmosphere)

You can’t cook a turkey properly without getting the Kamado Joe to just the right temperature. Similarly, preparing our hearts for thanksgiving requires setting the right atmosphere. This could mean spending time in prayer, reflecting on Scripture, or worshiping through song to “preheat” your spirit for a day of gratitude.

  • “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” (Psalm 95:2)

  • “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4)

 

Step 4: Monitor the Cook (Stay Attentive)

When the turkey is on the grill, you monitor the temperature and timing to ensure it doesn’t dry out or overcook. Thanksgiving is not a one-and-done activity; it requires ongoing attentiveness. As you go through your day, keep God’s blessings in focus and nurture your gratitude, allowing it to grow and deepen.

  • “The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.” (Psalm 28:7)

  • “I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” (Psalm 34:1)

Step 5: Serve and Enjoy (Overflow with Gratitude)

When the turkey is ready, it becomes the centerpiece of the meal, something to savor and enjoy with everyone else. Similarly, when our hearts are prepared with thanksgiving, we find our ultimate joy and satisfaction in God, and our gratitude becomes a blessing we share with others.

  • “My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips.” (Psalm 63:5)

  • “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (Psalm 136:1)

 

Just as preparing a turkey takes time, effort, and intentionality, preparing our hearts for Thanksgiving Day involves reflecting on God’s character and His works, and there's no better place to do that than the Psalms. Let’s not rush into the day unprepared, but instead, let’s allow the Psalms to season our souls and prime us for the feast of gratitude.

A well-prepared heart, like a well-prepared turkey, will bless everyone at the table and glorify the One who is worthy of all thanks.

Thankful to God for each of you,
Steve

Painting with the Gospel

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)

 

Thinking about the need for our Network to remain gospel-driven drew my mind to an article I recently read about the Golden Gate Bridge.

I read that the bridge is never not being painted. A team of thirty-four people is tasked with ensuring the bridge stays painted. But the task of painting the Golden Gate is never-ending. Literally, the team paints year-round. The people who paint the bridge are full-time workers who spend their whole time exclusively painting the bridge.

Interestingly, painting the Golden Gate Bridge is about much more than maintaining its unique orange color. The bridge's safety depends upon each bolt, each rivet, each cable, and each beam being painted. If those things are not covered in a thick layer of that orange paint, then the salty Pacific air will cause corrosion, and the integrity of the bridge will be at stake.

 

So to friends, our church leaders must keep painting with the gospel, for the integrity of our churches is at stake. The gospel must be the core content of our preaching, our teaching, our singing, our discipleship, our counseling, our outreach, our...everything! Everything centers around and is fueled by the gospel. Day after day, year after year, our church leaders must paint the church with the gospel. It's a never-ending task. The stability of the church is at stake.

 

The pressures of this world and the corrosive air of our culture will constantly hammer the church, and if the gospel does not cover her, she will fail. Therefore we must resist the temptation to thin our gospel paint to be more seeker-sensitive, water it down with mere social justice, or replace it with result-driven pragmatism.

Therefore, having this ministry by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. But we have renounced disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper with God’s word... (2 Corinthians 4:1-2)

It's easy to look at the challenges of preaching, teaching, and living the gospel and think there must be an easier way. But there can be no other way! And it is hard and will only get more complicated.

 

Paul says that through us God spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. (2 Corinthians 2:24-26) This means that our world does not like the gospel. It smells fishy to them. We must keep on preaching it even though prideful hearts rage against it.

 

It is hard and even socially dangerous to preach the gospel in our day. Some Golden Gate workmen have to hang from harnesses hundreds of feet over the water, risking their lives. It is not easy. It can be scary. But it must be done. Church leaders must fear God instead of men and thereby keep painting the church week after week with the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

The Network wants to help pastors and church leaders do that very thing. We do gather to establish partnerships, challenge one another for mobilization, and to see churches strengthened, but it's all aimed at seeing the gospel go forth so that our God will be made much of.

 

To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen! (Eph. 3:21)

Death by Isolation

Have you ever heard of the crazy and cruel experiments of Frederick II? He was King of Sicily from 1198, King of Germany from 1212, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor from 1220, King of Jerusalem from 1225, and King of the Crazies. He had a great curiosity for science, but the inhumane lengths he would go to gain knowledge were insane.

 

Perhaps most disturbingly was an experiment he embarked upon that, he hoped, would prove what the original language of mankind was. He was convinced that Adam and Eve spoke German. In his eagerness to discover humanity's original tongue, he gave a group of newborn infants over into the care of nurses who were given strict instructions on how to raise them. The nurses were ordered not to interact with the children other than when absolutely necessary; the infants could be fed and bathed, but no more. Above all, they were not to be spoken to or cooed over under any circumstances.

 

Frederick never got an answer to the question he posed. The original language of mankind remained hidden from him because the children all died. They died of starvation. Not starvation of food. But starvation of any form of affection, warmth, and basic interaction. They died of isolation.

 

Humanity was created for community, communication, and companionship. And I believe the local church, as a living organism, likewise needs connection with other churches, or she will die of isolation. I think that is even more true in our post-Christian culture. Too many churches are dying of isolation.

 

One of several reasons I moved from being a pastor of a local church to being a "pastor of pastors" in a local association Network is that I firmly believe we are better together. I think the health of local churches depends upon their connection to other local churches. I believe this is supported by what we see in Acts and read in Paul's epistles.

 

But for a church to see her need for other churches and thereby cultivate a gospel-driven togetherness, there need to be a few shifts in thinking:

  • The competition to cooperation shift. Churches are realizing they must stop viewing their sister churches as someone battling them for the same market share and instead recognize that the community will only benefit from more healthy churches as opposed to less. This shift will lead more churches to share their facilities, do joint outreach, and have strategic partnerships.

  • The customer to community shift. If churches view other churches as competition, it only follows that they also view people as customers. For too long, churches have treated people like consumers by catering to them with attractional and pragmatic methodologies instead of seeking to meet deeper spiritual needs through authentic, relational, and gospel-centered interaction. This shift should lead churches to embrace their unique contribution to the advance of the gospel while partnering with, and learning from, sister churches that have been blessed with different strengths.

  • The isolation to collaboration shift. Churches, quite simply, cannot thrive alone. We are called to be co-laborers in the Kingdom, so we need churches to lock arms for the gospel's sake and actually work together.

Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” (John 4:35-38)

I feel very blessed to be a part of a Network where we see collaboration, community, and cooperation. We desire to continue fostering even deeper gospel-driven unity.

  

Brothers and sisters, we need each other. We are better together. And when we demonstrate kingdom collaboration, we testify to the nature of our God and exalt His gospel work:

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me." (John 17:20-23)

May none of our churches die of isolation. We are united in Christ, we are united for Christ!