What I’m Thankful For

Here’s a brief list of things I’m thankful for:

Its not what I’d want it to be, or maybe what its been before, but we still enjoy freedom unrivaled on the face of the Earth for religious liberty and political expression. This is why this blog is.

We live in a land where we’re free to express our opinions. I’m thankful Radical Russ is still on the web and I’m thankful even that Fred Phelps can spout his horrible hatred. You see in a land where Phelps is free to say what he wants, you and I, and everyone else can enjoy that same freedom.

I can go to church and worship freely which as my pastor reminded me, puts me ahead of 3 billion people in nation’s across this Earth. Yes, sometimes we’re annoyed by door to door missionaries, but its the result of a free society. Though I’ll never avail myself of the opportunity, I’m glad to live in a country where I could become a Jehovah’s Witness if I wanted to.

Unlike an Englishman or a Swede, I have a right to self-defense, to have the means of self-defense. While across the World, the only thing many people can dream about is food the next morning, I live in a country of unrivaled opportunity. My challenge is deciding my future is not that there are so few opportunities, but that there are so many and that from all those possibilities, I must discern what’s the Will of God.

I’m thankful for men and women who will lay it on the line, who’ll fight where their sent and do more than that. They’ll enter into the war with such love for the people they’re going to help with such love for the good people that they make a nation proud.

Because soldiers, firemen, policemen, and others make our country safe I can blog. I can relax with my family, and live safely. God bless them all this Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful for hope. Its the great challenge of life: to hold onto hope despite life kicking you in the teeth and things not happening quite like you hoped they would. Yet, you live by hope and you work hard in Hope. As Michael Card wrote in a song several years back, “Only the solider who hopes can be brave.”

I’m thankful for my sweet, beautiful wife. She keeps me focused on what matters most, like spending time with her. She softens my hard edges and compliments me. She supports me on this blog and also with all she does for our household and family. I don’t know what my life would be like without her. She just means so much to me.

There are many blessings more I could write about. Perhaps, its all best summed up by the words of a song,