Gratitude is the third way to makeGod real. Each of us is a billionaire, forwe possess the most priceless treasure,the human body. Thesimple necessitiesand pleasures of life are also blessingsfor which we can be thankful to God.

[Ihe third way to make Godreal is not quite as orthodoxas the first two, 1) Bible and

2) Prayer.An ungrateful person is no more

than an animal and has spiritualleprosy. And by nature, we are veryungrateful.

GratitudeNo one can practice the presence ofGod unless gratitude is, with them, aspontaneous everflowing fountain.However tough life is for you and me,and however difficult your presentsituation, your blessings are still moremultitudinous than the drops of rain ina heavy downpour.

The strange thing is, we are veryinsensitive to our blessings until they are taken away. How manypeople value their health until it's gone?

The tiniest thing can happen to the tiniest part of the body, andbring much pain. You were hardly aware you had that bit of thebody until it happened I

You are a billionaireI want to suggest that if we are going to learn to practice the presenceof God, we must learn the meaning of gratitude.

You could start, for example, with thanking God that you are abillionaire. And you are, much, much morel

"Billionaire' you cry. "Des, you don't know my debts, don't knowthe IRS is after me. You don't understand. Australians must be anignorant lot."

My friends, everyone here is more than a billionaire. "Take a lookat my assets I There are so few" you say. My friends, you've left outthe main asset. I'm not even talking about spiritual assets-this yourmain material asset. At what price would you value your body?Would you sell it to a surgeon for practice dissection for five dollars'One hundred dollars' A million dollars? A billion dollars?

We are worth billionsForty years ago I was a pastor-evangelist caring for a small church,and holding about 80 meetings a year in town. Running themeetings was not what worried me, but running the church boardmeetings. That did worry me.

There was this one board meeting I remember. There was theusual to-and-fro, everyone with a different view. We all see thingsdifferently; we are all sincere in our particular perversion of vision. Iremember the occasion so clearly. Here I was, a young man, a pastor,worried about these incongruities of human behavior in a Christianchurch.

As I walked home-it was acouple of miles-I came to thefront gate of my home. As Iopened it, suddenly the dearLord gave me a thought thatbrushed all of the worries away.It seemed to me as thoughheaven were saying,

"Listen, Des. What wouldyou give that is precious toyou to have all of theproblems solved with theBoard? Would you surrenderyour eyes to have themsolved? Your ears? Yourcapacity to digest? Yourcapacity to walk? All these

blessings that you possess as youwalked home today, which one of them would you surrenderto have all these problems solved?"The answer is clear, isn't it' Your body is worth more than a

billion dollars to you, isn't it' Of course, it is.

Most marvelous machineWe're all billionaires' We don't deserve to be. Yet we possess themost marvelous "machine" in the world I

Every cell has about 50,000 genes in it. Can you imagine that? Theliver alone has 500 functions. Can you picture that' You would thinkthat at least a dozen functions would go wrong every second week.

I'll tell you why we don't deserve such a fine machine, such awonderful instrument. It's not that we use it, but that we abuse it.

This is the first sedentary generation that's ever lived. This is thefirst sedentary century in history. Do you know that there is apotential of 30 years difference between a good and a bad lifestyle'

I'm just in the middle of writing a letter to Dr. James Dobson,who's a very wonderful Christian, as you know. We've correspondedbefore, and I'm saying to him this time: "Dr. Dobson, mostChristians don't die. They kill themselves."

In this country, only about two or three people in a hundred dieof old age. The majority die of chronic diseases. Three out of everyfour die of heart disease and cancer.

You don't find these diseases as frequently in primitive societies.Albert Schweitzer said, "These things are diseases of civilization."

Don't misunderstand me. Some of us have genetic problems. Butthat's the minority. The majority of chronic diseases are not genetic.They are diseases of our country's affluence.

These diseases are because of our sedentary lives, because of ourlack of discipline. We eat dead foods out of packages, cans, bottles-and expect to be alive. Madnessl

We know what kills people. It's not something that's

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unknown. (Again, I'm talking in terms of the majorities. I couldgo down tomorrow with some mysterious illness.) We weren'tmeant to take so largely the lives of living creatures that Godmade, and use them as food. Most of the deaths in the westernworld come from that single habit of meat -eating.

None of us can boast. None of us has cared for our wonderfulmachine as we should. I think of my childhood when I wouldread a long book, eating sweets or biscuits as I read. An atrocioushabit. I wish someone had tapped me on the shoulder and said,"Hey, Des, do you want to sit in the dentist's chair half your life?"

Thank youAn ingenious gatherer of statistics estimated that each year beforeChristmas, thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus end upin the dead-letter file at the post office. He wondered how many"Thank you" letters end up in the dead-letter file after Christmaswas over. He found one.

I'm like that. I find it so easy to send up 3,000 requests to Godfor every one "Thank You" We've got to learn to say, "Thankyou." We've got to learn how thick our path is studded withblessings. We've got to learn that when we get up in the morning,there is wonderful, glorious sunshine. I'm glad life's not as dark asa coal mine 24 hours a day. I'm glad I can see the beauties of theday.

And what do I hear in the morning' Birds. I'm glad there arebirds. You could have a world without birds. They're not

necessary. But they are fun. Luther said that any brown sparrowwas the best preacher on earth. A brown sparrow sings its song,and depends on our Heavenly Father for its food.

And when you get up, isn't it good that, if the morning's cold,you own a housecoat' Have you ever thought of what it would belike if you could never get warm' Or when it's very hot, if youcould never get cool?

And it's good to know that breakfast is going to be there. Twoor three times a day we eat (out of a stern sense of duty, ofcourse! ). When we arrive at the table, there's probably someonethere we know. That's good. Loneliness is a terrible thing.

After that, we have work to do. The worst thing in the world ishaving no work to do. When you reach 65, don't hurry to retire.If you do, call the undertaker. Don't hurry to retire-thank Godfor work.

It wasn't until I went away to college and had a very, veryheavy program that I suddenly realized what a blessing it was thatthere was nighttime; there was a time you had to lie down. Inever knew until I was 18. I took it for granted. But at 18, I saidto myself, "Wow! How could a person manage without theblessings of nighttime and sleep'"

I'm simply reminding you that our blessings are morenumerous than the drops of rain in a heavy thunderstorm. Toooften, we're blind to them.

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