THE REAL HERO OF THANKSGIVING

The first time I saw Plymouth Rock, I stared at it and said to my sister, ”Is that IT? Is that ALL THERE IS TO IT?”

The most famous rock in America had been so chipped away by visitors and by the passing of years, that it is now encased in protective glass under a shelter. One visitor, disappointed by its size, called it “the most disappointing landmark in America.” For years, a visitor could buy an egg-size piece of Plymouth Rock for $1.50 at any local shop in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The fact that the rock was never mentioned until a hundred years after the Pilgrims landed, though, has not diminished the reverence that Americans have for it. And it wasn’t until 1863, over 200 years after the Pilgrims first arrived, that Abraham Lincoln set aside the last Thursday in November as the day to honor our forbearers and thank God for our earliest beginnings as a nation.

There are many myths about what was served the First Thanksgiving dinner but that never kept my mama from serving the traditional foods that will be served in millions of American homes this Thanksgiving. In fact, we always ran around the outside perimeter of the house a few times after the main meal was served, ostensibly so we would shake down the food in our distended tummies to make room for the desserts of pumpkin or mincemeat pies.

It might surprise you then to learn that these foods were likely NOT to have been served at the first Thanksgiving meal in 1621: ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams, corn on the cob, cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie. Most were not brought to the settlement until years later and sugar was not available.

When I was teaching elementary school many years ago, I was given greater liberties than instructors have today. I was free to teach about Squanto at Thanksgiving, comparing him to Joseph in the Old Testament. (In today's academic climate, I would be tossed unceremoniously out the school door with my brief case full of school papers flying everywhere for doing such a dastardly thing as mentioning the Bible in any form!)

To me, Squanto is the hero of Thanksgiving. But few remember this brave Christian Indian except for the brief introduction they were given to him in school. Of the 110 Pilgrims and crew who left England, less than 50 survived that first bitter Massachusetts winter. Had it not been for Squanto, all the others would have died. There is no question about it.

Squanto had been prepared for this mission by God. In a very small nutshell, this is his story:

Early in his life he was captured and sold as a slave in Spain but eventually escaped and went to England. There some caring monks taught him to eat English foods, to speak the language and introduced him to the gospel of Jesus Christ. When he returned to what is now Massachusetts in 1619 as pilot for an English sea captain, he escaped and discovered that his Indian tribe had been destroyed by a plague.

Two years later, he developed a friendship with the Pilgrims who had fled England because King James was persecuting those who did not recognize the Church of England's absolute civil and spiritual authority.

I believe God chose Squanto to be His man for the hour. Squanto had placed his faith and trust in God and in His Son, Jesus Christ. Squanto was the only one who could serve as interpreter between the Indians and the new settlers. It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap. He taught them which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers. He taught them how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.

In fact, William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Plantation called Squanto "a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectations."

The Pilgrims decided to have a Thanksgiving celebration at harvest time to rejoice in their fruitfulness. Ninety Indians came with five dressed venison on poles and 12 dressed turkey along with berries, fish, fowl and vegetables. "They had three wonderful days of feasting and celebration, with foot races, wrestling, archery contests...(and) a prayer of thanksgiving to God," Cureton said in his study.

I believe as surely as God picked Billy Graham to be His soul-winner of the century, He picked Squanto to become the one driving force that kept the early settlers from dying at Plymouth Rock. As surely as God picked Abraham Lincoln, a God-fearing man of humble beginnings, to become our most beloved president in freeing the slaves, He picked Squanto to help jump-start a new nation of Christians wanting to serve their God.

Here was this Native American who understood English fluently. He understood English customs and ways, he ate English foods, and he was committed to the same Christ that they were. He was the right man, at the right place, at the right time.

Only God can do that! Squanto’s story is not unlike Joseph in the Old Testament -- he was shaped and molded through suffering and slavery to become the instrument of God to literally keep the people of God alive and well enough to start a whole new country!

We should look today at our sons and daughters and pray “Let each one be a Squanto, be divinely appointed, have a specific mission to accomplish, make a difference, support and love other Christians, mentor the weak, provide clarity of purpose and education to those needing it, and above all else, lead others to Jesus Christ.

Squanto should be celebrated every Thanksgiving for the enormous benefit he was to the Pilgrims. The day he walked into the Pilgrims settlement and greeted them in English was the major turning point for this hurting, defeated group of English settlers.

This Thanksgiving at the dinner table, every father or mother has an opportunity to tell the story of a young Indian Christian who was used by God to help start a nation! Our nation.

Praise God for Squanto, a man of stature and a man of God.