For What Are You Thankful in 2018?
Thanksgiving is an exciting time for couples, families and friends to get together. We may travel long distances for a single day of eating ourselves unconscious, having a cacophony of multiple conversations simultaneously and thinking ahead to Christmas just around the corner.
Yet thanks-giving is more than simply “saying grace” over a roasted gobbler with all the trimmings and dessert. We should be taking serious time to reflect on all the good in our lives. Gratitude, after all, makes us more eligible to receive more and better.
For me the list is easy to come by and keeps growing:
Jesus has saved us from an eternity apart from God and become Lord over all aspects of our life
We have the Word of God and Holy Spirit inside of us to guide us in every area of life, and His promises in which to trust
We have peace, joy, provision and the protection of powerful entities -- warrior angels
I have been honored and privileged to have Carol Ann for sixteen years now as my wife, companion and so much more. We still have a “competition” to see who can out-love and out-care for the other (I believe she stands solidly in the lead)
We have six children between us, plus numerous grand- and great-grandchildren that we love very deeply
We still have brothers and their families here on earth, plus those who have gone on ahead of us, all of whom we love
We have a family in the body of Christ that we are growing to know and appreciate better as time passes
We have been under the rich anointing of a ministry for five years that is ideally suited to where we are in the faith, where we can grow and flourish
We have good friends and friendly acquaintances in ever-shifting circles with whom we can share our faith easily. Those online now number in the thousands-- astounding.
We have a comfortable roof over our heads, heat in the winter, cooling in the summer, clothes on our backs, food in the house, clean water
We live in a mostly peaceful environment in the Branson area of the Ozarks Mountains that is beautiful and inspiring for a retirement career as an author
We have a very good car that has served us faithfully and well for the better part of a decade
We enjoy what I believe to be unusual good health-- spiritual, mental, emotional and physical
We live in a nation where we have far more freedom than most in the world experience
As if what we have going now were not excellent enough, in the not-that-distant future we will get to call our mission here complete and blow this pop-stand. Given that 120 years is given as the maximum length of a man’s life here, and that a thousand years with the Lord is as one day, we estimate we have about 20 minutes or so to go. Glory to God! Yet so long as we have a job to do… we’re not leaving until we and the Lord agree it’s time and we’ve been satisfied with long life as promised in Psalm 91.
