Britain's Queen Elizabeth recently turned 78. Her birthday actually falls in April, but her subjects celebrate her birthday with lots of pomp and circumstance on a Saturday each June. Locals and foreigners alike flooded through the royal gates hoping to catch a glimpse of the Queen, and be part of the celebration. Representatives of several military units marched past the Queen and her husband Prince Phillip to honor her. Later, while military bands played tributes, Royal Air Force Jets flew overhead in her honor.

The most unique feature of the celebration was that the Queen gave gifts to her subjects instead of receiving them. The queen honored several people during the celebration. Ten Brits and others who aided in the aftermath of the November bombing of Britain's consulate in Istanbul received awards. Jamaican born baritone Willard White and English Football Association Director Trevor Brooking received knighthoods, and actor John Hurt became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, or CBE. The architect of the new Queen Mary II ocean liner, Stephen Payne was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, or OBE, as were a couple of other English celebrities.

Colin Cross who traveled from Lancashire, northern England for the event said, "It's the greatest free show on earth. They should never do away with the monarchy."

—Associated Press, Britain Celebrates Queen's 78th, Regal Pageantry Marks Birthday, by Rachel Gould. June 13, 2004. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

The celebration of the Queen's birthday in England sounds strangely familiar. As His subjects, we honor the Lord with our praise and worship, and yet He is the one who bestows the greatest gifts to His loyal subjects.

1 Cor. 12:28 (NIV) “And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues.”

Though clearly taught in the pages the Bible, a recent study by the Barna organization found there is still confusion surrounding the topic of Spiritual gifts among Christians.

Overall, the recent update found slightly fewer Christians reported an awareness of spiritual gifts. Just above two-thirds, 68 percent, of respondents said they had of spiritual gifts, down from 72 percent in 2000 and 71 percent in 1995.

Of those who had heard of spiritual gifts 9 percent said they had been given the gift of teaching, 8 percent reported service as their gift, followed by 7 percent with faith, 4 percent with encouragement, healing and knowledge and 3 percent claimed the gift of tongues. Fewer respondents claimed Leadership or evangelism as their spiritual gift.

Many respondents said they had heard of spiritual gifts, but listed items that the Bible does not mention such as health, happiness, singing and creativity. 15 percent of those polled said they did not know what their gift was. 28 percent said they did not have a spiritual gift, and 20 percent said spiritual gifts were not Biblical. The most surprising statistic revealed by the survey was that when all factors were included, nearly two thirds of the self-described Christians taking part in the study had not accurately applied what they had heard or what the Bible teaches on the subject to their lives.

--Survey Describes the Spiritual Gifts That Christians Say They Have; http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=326; February 9, 2009, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.

1Corinthians 12:4-7 GNB “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them. There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served. There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service. The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.”

Napoleon is a struggling teenager in the now classic namesake film, “Napoleon Dynamite.” In an interaction which has since become the source of many internet memes, when he finds out his new friend Pedro is asking a girl out on a date, Napoleon laments his own lack of the “skills” that a girlfriend might expect such as, “nun-chuck skills, bow hunting skills, computer hacking skills.” Napoleon eventually is able to utilize his drawing skills to land a date for the dance, and his dancing skills to help elect his friend Pedro as class President.

While quite humorous and quirky, Napoleon’s struggles are familiar and acutely real to many. Life on its own is very challenging and adding on top of that the expectations we face as Christians on mission in a fallen and broken world can certainly be overwhelming. We often worry that we do not have the skills we need to pursue God’s purposes, or even achieve some level of success in life in general. How can we be competent to carry out God’s plan? —Jim L. Wilson and Jon R. Pennington

I have filled him with God’s Spirit, with wisdom, understanding, and ability in every craft to design artistic works in gold, silver, and bronze, to cut gemstones for mounting, and to carve wood for work in every craft.