Thanksgiving

The holiday season is upon us.  It has come upon us quickly, but I still have had time to reflect on the wonderful people and events that God has sent in the past year.  One of my members has been posting a daily list of things to be thankful for and I felt that I should chime in on a few things before the Thanksgiving week.  Here is an incomplete list:

1.  I am thankful for the innovative, faithful and fruitful people from Abbeville that have blessed me in so many ways.  Servants who make Thursday Nights wonderful for Celebrate Recovery ... doers who thought of a Mount Up For Missions trail ride (and then they pull off this amazing event!) ... music people who share their voices/instruments/soul as they bless us in worship of a great God ... people who invite us to serve and push us into a better understanding of what life with Jesus means ... unseen people who do things quietly yet love all of us out loud ... friends who are there in the ups and downs of life, sometimes unseen but always in my heart.

2. I am thankful for those who have bravely battled debilitating issues like cancer and death of loved ones, still serving, giving and living life forward, knowing that God has good things out there for them and those they love.

3. I am thankful for the love of family ... Lee, Stephanie, Christopher and grandkids ... all part of God teaching us to do life in the midst of struggles and challenges.

4. I am thankful that though my father left this world this year he had a place to go ... a place a loving God had prepared for him and a place of perfection, healing and eternal goodness.  And I am grateful for God's care for my mother in the days that have followed Dad's death.

5. I am thankful that you, who are reading this, have given me the grace to sometimes share a good word, knowing you have to slog through a lot of rocks to find a precious stone of some value.

6. I am thankful for Christ, who enables me to do things that are difficult (sometimes impossible) because of His power and strength and provision.

I am thankful!  Randy