Grateful Thursday to Black Friday. Grateful to Greedy in less than 24 hours.

Tom likes to call the time from Thanksgiving to Christmas as "The Thirty Days of Gluttony." With people celebrating the holidays, it invariably involves food: Great good and great amounts of it. Then add the pies, Grandma's famous peanut butter fudge, and the ever-famous fruit cake and the calories skyrocket.

But just how do we learn to be thankful, especially in a day and age where people are so ego-centric that they feel they deserve what they get and, therefore, take it all for granted instead of being genuinely appreciative.

And it's not just "what" we're thankful for but for whom and to whom we are thankful.

The bottom line is, thankfulness is a position of being, not just saying. And choosing to be thankful, having a constant attitude of thankfulness, is something we need to be taught and well as be shown by example.

Even if the gift we receive isn't something we're necessarily thankful for (the underwear Grandma gave us) it's the person (Grandma) that we love and are thankful for.

It's a heart issue, not a possession issue. And we Believers have so much to be thankful for and the greatest Someone for whom we are thankful.

Just how much of everything there is to know do you think you know?

Jay and Tom have bounced this question around quite a few times, often with the self-deprecating response, "Probably a thimbleful."

Then there are the things that are just plain unexplainable. And too, history is full of myths, legends, and speculations of what the spiritual world is like. We know that Jesus said, "God is spirit and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth." But what does that really mean?

We pursue knowledge and understand but do we really pursue wisdom? True wisdom comes from above so that's where we need to start. However, people who reject God end up venturing into myriads of myths and legends, and worse, the dark things.

There's a whole lot more to knowledge and we need to be careful where we seek it. The whole realm of fantasy can be very appealing to immerse ourselves in but when it draws away or supersedes Godly wisdom and understanding, red flags should be waving frantically.

This podcast proves that Jay and Tom don't agree on everything. But they do agree on the things that matter eternally.

19.5 million people have served our great country through military service. We appreciate and thank our military veterans for all they've done.

That's what it has taken to preserve the wonderful freedoms we enjoy today. But has this freedom, sustained by such great sacrifice, become a burden of sorts?

It's important for us as citizens of the U.S. of A. to remember exactly what we have. As we stand before the flag representing our great country, we pledge our allegiance. And the writers of our pledge were very specific as to what we give our allegiance to: "The Republic, for which it stands."

We also need to remind ourselves that "though we are in this world, we are not of it." This gives us a greater responsibility as Believers to protect what God has established here.

Today we discuss the service we give and the responsibilities we have as God's emissaries to this great nation.