My Thanksgiving List

Author's note:  This weeks blog is an excerpt from my Thanksgiving message which I delievered at Tuckston United Methodist Church last Sunday.

Sadly in our culture the observance of Thanksgiving has become for many the opening of the Christmas Season, rather than the important day it is on it’s on.  Many persons, particularly children make a list at Christmas times of things they wish to receive as gifts.  Today I would like offer that all of us, regardless of our age should make a Thanksgiving List naming the things for which we give thanks not only at this time of year but anytime we stop and reflect on the life with which we have been blessed.  I am honored to share mine.

            I am thankful for a God who loves me and who through his Son, Jesus Christ, has given me grace and salvation.

            I am thankful that on an August day in 2013 I decided to attend a workshop on poverty to learn a little more about the community in which I lived.  I remember very little about the workshop but I remember a great deal about the red headed lady that was leading it. Over time she has taught me way more about abundance than poverty. Above all she taught me that broken hearts can be mended that love always triumphs over despair. Eleven months after that day I met her I asked her to marry me and she said yes and my life is so much richer.

            I am thankful for three children who came to me because of some very good choices I made. I chose to have all of them in my life, none came to me by birth, and given those choices again I would do it all again.  I hope that they feel as blessed to have me in their life as I do to have them in mine.  I am thankful that two of those children have wonderful spouses that add to the quilt of our family.

            I am thankful for five young men who know that Papa John is more than a pizza place and for a little princess that is going to steal a lot of hearts just like she has stolen mine. 

            I am thankful for a mother and father who loved me enough to pass their values and beliefs on to me.  I am thankful they saw that I was in church on Sunday and they stressed the importance of education to me. 

            I am thankful for a sister who will always be fourteen years older than I am.

           I am thankful to serve Tuckston United Methodist Church as pastor.  Serving God is wonderful but getting to serve him alongside good people is even better.

           I am thankful that the United Methodist Church has given me the opportunity to live out God’s call upon my life.

            I am thankful for the opportunity that I’ve had to baptize folks, offer them communion, marry them, and to offer words of comfort and assurance when they have passed through the bonds of earthly life.  I’m thankful that some folks have heard me preach and have found Christ in spite of my feeble efforts on his behalf.

            I am thankful for the pastors over the years who mentored me and shaped me as a pastor.  My ministry is richer because of the influence of Ted Bass, Layne Jenkins, Rudy Baker, Bob Daugherty and Henry Fields. 

           I am thankful that Athens is now my home. My heart has always lived here and now I get to lay my head on a pillow here at night.

           I am thankful to live in the greatest country on earth.  In spite of our problems there is nowhere else I would ever want to live.

           I am thankful for the men and women who have fought to defend our freedom.  We are hearing these words today because of those brave souls.

           I am thankful for waking up in the mornings and being given the opportunity to live each day.

           I am thankful for a roof over my head, shoes on my feet and grits on the stove.    

       I am thankful for those institutions that educated me.  I’m thankful for teachers, coaches, professors, headmasters and principals who encouraged me, praised me when it was deserved and kicked my backside when I needed it.

            I am thankful for fall afternoons between the hedges. 

            I am thankful for Larry Munson, hobnailed boots and sugar falling from the sky. 

        I am thankful that I’ve seen a sunset in Key West, the ocean in California, the Rockies in Colorado and the water cascading at Niagara Falls.

           I’m thankful I’ve been to the Rose Bowl seen the Tournament of Roses Parade and stood in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus at Notre Dame.

I’m thankful I’ve seen the Cubs play at Wrigley Field.

I’m thankful to have seen New York at Christmas time and spent a New Year’s Eve in Times Square.

I’m thankful for standing on a cliff in Aruba having the wind whip my hair while the surf pounded the rocks below.

I’m thankful that Toni taught me that snorkeling and kayaking can actually be fun and convinced me to go swimming with some dolphins in the Bahamas.

I’m thankful I’ve seen the Statue of Liberty and all that it represents.

I’m thankful I’ve seen the arch in St. Louis.

I’m thankful I don’t live in New Jersey.

I’m thankful for the big oak trees on St. Simons Island and the haunting majesty of the marshes.

I’m thankful to have had the chance to stand by the eighteenth green at the Augusta National Golf Club and watch the final round of the Masters conclude.

            I’m thankful for Fincher’s barbecue and hotdogs from the Nu-Way in Macon, for the Varsity’s onion rings, and I’ve had the chance to eat fried chicken at the Plantation Buffet.

            I’m thankful that I have been able to see Herschel Walker run a football, Roquan Smith tackle a running back, Henry Aaron hit a baseball, Larry Bird shoot a basketball, Jack Nicklaus hit a golf ball, David Pollack chase a quarterback, Dominique Wilkins slam dunk and Courtney Kupets fly around at a gym meet like an angel.   

            I’m thankful I’ve heard Billy Joel sing “Piano Man,” Alabama sing “Old Flame” and Trisha Yearwood sing “Walkaway Joe.” 

I’m thankful I’ve heard Angelia sing “Go Light Your Candle” and Toni sing “Holy Ground.”

            I’m thankful I’ve heard the Redcoat Band play Glory, Glory.

            I’m thankful I’ve heard the Tuckston praise band sing “This is Amazing Grace.”  I’m thankful for a choir director that is afraid of a barber shop and I’m thankful for the folks that he directs.

 I’m thankful that I get to hear Nancy Robertson make a pipe organ talk. I’m thankful that I worked with a choir director named Jamie Garvey at St. John in Augusta and that she taught me the importance of excellence in church music. I’m thankful I once heard a Korean choir sing a song whose words I could not understand yet understood very clearly.

            I’m thankful I’ve had the chance today to share these words with you today.  I could have shared more than I have to be sure, but I don’t believe in belaboring a point which is simply that we can all find those things for which we can be thankful.  These are just some of the things that are on my list. Your list won’t look like mine but we all should have a list.  The question that I leave with you today is this----What’s on your list?