Southern Gospel News SGNScoops Digital

Lorraine Walker: So this is November with Thanksgiving and Christmas

Editor’s Last Word by Lorraine Walker for November 2019 SGNScoops Magazine

Here is is, the second-to-last month of 2019 and I’m still writing 2010 on my notes. I know I will catch up sometime. It’s hard to fathom entering another decade. I hope you are ready for it and if you aren’t, you do have a few days to wrap your mind around it. With November comes the holiday season and I am happy about that. I love Christmas and the decorations and music. We are working on the December issue and I can’t wait to introduce you to lots of great Christmas music!

This month, I’m glad we had the opportunity to highlight the Troy Burns Family with a great feature by Justin Gilmore. Troy Burns was honored at Creekside Gospel Music Convention on October 28, 2019, with the Dr. Jerry Goff Lifetime Achievement award. I understand that the whole week was a terrific time of fellowship and music and fun. Next month, we will share with you some of the artists’ best moments of Creekside 2019. I hope you had a chance to check out the winners of the 2019 Diamond Awards which were also presented at Creekside. Don’t forget to vote next year!

Special thanks to all of our November artists, including the Hoppers, Jordy Hinson, the Sheltons, Bonita Eileen, Alan Bibey and those who performed at the Vernon Alabama Gospel Music Weekend. We appreciate our writers and hope that you had a chance to read all of their offerings. Charlie Griffin, Lyndsey Chandler, John Herndon, Jantina Baksteen, Les Butler, Leslie McKay, Vonda Armstrong, Justin Gilmore, and also our publisher, Rob Patz. Each has their own unique style and calling to use their gifts for the Lord through the printed word. Thank you so much.

November is also the month of Thanksgiving and we want to extend our thanks to all of you who have read through our pages this month and all year. We want to present a magazine that is interesting, entertaining, perhaps thought-provoking and even educational, but most of all, we want to present words that are life giving. Words that extend our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, our faith in his saving power, our enjoyment of his abundant life, from our hearts to yours. We hope you have experienced some of that this month.

In this month, you might also extend your thanks to the service men and women who protect the country you live in. Veterans Day presents a moment for us to think about the dedication of those who have given their lives for their country, and those who have returned to this land to resume a life forever changed by their experiences. 

You might also take a moment to thank the spiritual leaders in your life, perhaps your pastor or other members of the church family that have led you a little farther along in your journey. Maybe it’s a friend or family member whose Christ-filled life is one that makes you want more of the Lord in your world. Whoever the people are that draw you to Jesus, perhaps they need to know that their prayers and walk are not in vain. Take time to thank them this month.

Finally, and most importantly, we need to take time this month to thank the Lord Jesus Christ for all of his good and perfect gifts to us. The obvious gifts are physically in front of us, but perhaps the better gifts are things like family, friends, music, the printed word, fellowship with like-minded people, health, love and hope. The best gift of all is the gift that God the Father gave when his son, Jesus Christ came to this earth to offer us eternal, abundant life; salvation from an eternity without God, cleansing from sin, light in our darkness and freedom from bondage. Thank Jesus this Thanksgiving for the greatest gift of all. Life.

Lorraine Walker

If you have any questions or comments about anything in this magazine, please write to me at lorraine@sgnscoops.com.

By Lorraine Walker

First published by SGNScoops Magazine in November 2019

Read more Gospel Music News in the latest SGNScoops Magazine Online HERE.