Pastor Steve's life ministry deals with bringing hope and restoration to the hurting and down trodden, both inside and outside of the church. His message of God's grace and love is backed by a powerful testimony of addiction from his past and his message of healing and hope of things to come is evidenced by the scars of his present. Driven by a heart to please God, Pastor Steve and his wife Gaye serve their community faithfully and show love and grace to all people.


Steve and Gaye Vanzant

In addition to being the Fire Chaplain of the Haltom City Fire Department, Pastor Steve is a certified Trauma Responder and a Certified Trauma Stress Specialist with the ATSS. He was deployed to Sri Lanka during the tsunami relief efforts, by the Green Cross as a Certified Field Traumatologist, to train the local people to deal with trauma.
His other certifications include Emergency Services, Spiritual Care, and Mass Disaster and Terrorism with the ICISF. For more information on these organizations, follow the links below.

http://www.greencross.org/

http://www.atss.info/

http://www.icisf.org/

http://www.haltomcitytx.com/

 

Well, the holidays are firmly behind us and our daily routines are settling back in. Unfortunately, our giving of thanks moves out just about as fast as our Christmas bills arrive.

It has often been pointed out that thinking precedes thanking. When we present a gift, it's because we think of its significance and meaning, and with it, we express our appreciation.

What, then, are the thoughts that Christians think, that lead them to giving thanks? Somewhere in our thinking there should be thoughts of God. Perhaps we should start there.GOD - What a train of thought should be started when we think of Him! Power, Wisdom, Goodness, Grace, Love, Care: these are just some of the thoughts that cluster around the Word of God.

In addition to thoughts of God, there should be thoughts of ourselves. We should see our own insignificance in light of the facts that we know about God. We should see and confess our own frailty and failures. We should admit our commitment to earthly things.But we should not stop there. We should think thoughts about our privileges in Christ. God has loved us and made us significant, through sending His Son to die for us.

In the light of these thoughts, we should be led to think of our responsibilities. We are now responsible to live for God's glory. Redeemed, we should seek to serve, serve, serve, serve, serve Him faithfully.  We should recognize our responsibility to be thankful, and from our lips there should come a daily song of praise.

Why is it, then, that we are not more thankful? The truth probably is that we don't stop to think.The cares and riches and pleasures of this life choke the plant of gratitude, and our lives become unfruitful.

Thanksgiving is really the product of careful cultivation.It is the fruit of a deliberate decision to think about God. By giving thanks we display the fact that our lives are not controlled by the cares and concerns of this life. We give testimony to the fact that material things do not dictate the horizons of the soul.

People who think will become people who thank.Giving thanks is not just to be celebrated once a year.It is to be cultivated into our lives on a daily basis.As it begins to grow, we will become people of gratitude and not lovers of self.

 

Sincerely His,
Pastor Steve Vanzant

The Significance of One is available now.