Thanksgiving

If you are on Facebook, you may have noticed some of your friends doing a 30 days of Thanksgiving countdown. Quite simply, you give one thing per day that you are thankful for. This not a bad idea because we so often forget to thank God for the blessings we have. And blessed we are. I know that many folk are going through some of the roughest times in their lives at this time. I have two friends that lost their husbands, in their 50's, this year and I have ached for them. This time of year seems to make it more difficult to deal with that loss.

I don't know about you, but, I find it hard sometimes to think about what I could be thankful for. We have a tradition at my mother-in-laws as we sit at the table, we each give thanks for something before the blessing and the eventual destruction of the bounty in front of us. The difficulty of thankfulness shows at that time. Everyone of us has had the situation of just saying, "I am thankful for my family". There is nothing wrong with that but we should be thankful for much more. I believe, our problem is we take so many things for granted and don't view them as blessings. Our human nature, at least lately if not always, is to be wanting more or to feel entitled to something we don't have or have not earned or given to us from God's love for us. God warned us about that in the "Ten Commandments", "Thou shalt not covet....".

I hope this does not seem to be "preachie" because I have the same difficulties describing what I am thankful for as well as the next person. I want to lump all of my blessings into one little catch phrase to get myself off the hook. So, I think I will try to list some of my thankfulness now.

I am thankful for:
 1.  Jesus Christ who by giving of his life and rising from the dead has given me the choice to follow him and have eternal life.
 2.  God providing safety for my son-in-law while he was deployed to Iraq.
 3.  My wife who continues to hang with me even on my worst days.
 4.  My children, for they have brought me joy.
 5.  My Mom and Dad, for their unconditional love and the godly heritage they provide
 6.  My brother and sisters
 7.  My extended family (in laws)
 8.  My job, so many don't have one now.
 9.  My church family for their love
10.  United States of America and it's godly heritage that has provided the freedom we have to even have a Thanksgiving day.
11. The things that make life more comfortable (and likely make me more complacent on thanking God).

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. May you be thankful today for the blessings God has provided you.

Home

Home at last! Yes he is. His physical body is not yet sitting in his physical house but he is on Mississippi soil and Sonia is spending time with him as he and his fellow soldiers are processing out.

It has been a long year. We thank our great on wonderful God for all he has supplied during this last year. First and foremost his safety and the safety of his unit.

Although the news doesn't report much from there anymore, his deployment was not uneventful, but all are safe and returning.

Thank you 1-185th Aviation Battalion for your service to your country. Because of your efforts we are safer.

Almost There

Well, we are almost there! SNL will be on Mississippi soil in a day or two. I cannot begin to tell you how excited, elated, overjoyed, and as my daughter put it "getting butterflies" we are to have him almost here.

This little blog post is to have you to continue to pray for him, and the men he has served with this last year. Some are coming home to families falling apart and some to spouses diagnosed with life challenging diseases. All of them will have to re-integrate into society again. Their families will have to adjust along side of them as well, when husband and daddy returns.

Although I am primarily concerned with him and his group, the war in Iraq is winding down and many will be coming home to the same situations. Multiple deployments have taken a toll on the family structure that our great nation is built around and as that crumbles so does the very being of who we are.

Specifically pray for patience (on everyone's part), for peace in their spirits, and for their safety as they take these last legs of travel to get home.

Thanks to all of you who have remembered them all this time and have helped in ways that cannot be counted here but will be in eternity.

Country Living

 I have been reading lately on worship and the relevance of our churches. This is not deep but I just thought I would re-post.

I have found that the older I get the more reflective I become. I am not quite sure if that is normal, but that is me nonetheless. This morning I woke up thinking about some of the places I have had the privilege to live. Until I married, all them but one were in the country ( outside city limits for you city folk).

Maybe some of you have heard your parents or at least your grandparents talk about the simpler way of life or the good old days. Growing up in the country is just that type of living. In those days there were many things you didn't have in your community. You didn't have drug problems unless of course you count smoking rabbit tobacco as a drug. It didn't alter you mind but it would burn your insides because it wasn't a processed product but right off the stalk. We didn't roll in paper but made our own corncob pipes from, you guessed it, corn cobs and hollowed out cane.

Another thing you didn't have was a supermarket. Oh, we had a little country store as most communities did that sold gas, and a few staples to tie you over until you could go to town. Today you might call them a convenience store. They always had a big jar on the counter with a pink brine that kept the pig's feet pickled. Yes, lots of folks ate pickled pigs feet, I am not one of them. If you wanted bologna, you would tell the store owner and he go to the cooler and get this big long loaf of bologna and take it the slicer and slice the amount that you wanted. Oh, and gas at his store cost $.32 a gallon. No kidding.

Another thing different was jobs when you were a teenager. Most of us guys, would help on the farms in the community. I remember there were six of us that worked together as a team hauling hay, and unloading feed and seed trucks, and a host of other jobs needed. When it came lunch time we would go the the store, get a pound of bologna and some crackers that we would share. We each would then buy our own quart size RC Cola and have ourselves a feast. The good old days. We were all the best of friends. We would work, play, and hunt together. We would get together and go to town on Friday nights to the movies. The good old days. Not hardly a care in the world.

An important part of all those communities was the church. Many had a couple, maybe a Methodist and a Baptist. Ours, just the Baptist. It was the hub of all that happened in the community. Here we gathered to worship, see friends that we hadn't seen all week, and on many occasions have a dinner on the ground. If you have never had dinner on the ground at a country church, you have missed one of the greatest eating festivals of all time. Everyone would bring their favorite dish and we would place them on tables and then everyone would walk through buffet style and help themselves. MMMMMMMMM good eats. The children would play games and the adults would catch up on things. The good old days.

On occasion, I have the opportunity to revisit some of the places I used to live. In most, the country store is gone. Gas is no longer $.32 a gallon. My friends have moved on to other places. That way of life is slowly being lost in our nation, one family at a time. But there is still one constant in those country communities, THE CHURCH. Yes some have died with their community, but many remain. They are still the focal point of spiritual renewal and fellowship. Like the old country communities, the church where we live plays the same important part of everyday life. Many do not recognize it's importance, but it is important just the same. They are the focal point of spiritual renewal, fellowship, and grounding of everyday life. Without them the basic moral teachings would be lost. Without them many of us would be alone in our spiritual journey.

As you read this, if you do not attend the local church in your community, go. They are not perfect, but there are those there that will become your friends. They will be there for you and show you the one who is perfect and has a perfect love for you.

I don't think being reflective is all bad. It allows us to see where we have been and maybe give us a glimpse of where we are going. It is how we get there that counts.