Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving, all! 

Ours was a wonderful day spent with our large, extended family! 

As for me:

• I am thankful first and foremost that Jesus Christ thought so much of me that he chose to die on a cross and bring us all salvation.
• I am thankful for the family that has been a constant blessing for 54 years.  The closeness and love we share is a rare gift in a 'me' centered world.
• I am thankful for a Church community that has been an anchor for my parents, De and I, our children, our small group, and many others over the years.  I hope that we have brought to them a small portion of what they have offered to us.
• I am thankful for the blessings of being raised relatively poor on a small farm by Christian parents who to taught me how to work, how to give, how to love, how to discern the things that are important from those that are distractions, how to hunt, how to grow green beans and tomatoes, how to milk a cow by hand, and that it is ok to leave home, but not ok to forget it.
• I am thankful for a job that for 26 years has been interesting, challenging, makes a positive difference in the world, and has provided me the opportunity to provide for a wife and three kids.
• I am thankful for the opportunity to steward a small bit of land and be blessed by the work and by that which it produces.
• I am thankful for a new Christian son-in-law and the two little granddaughters that come with him.
• I am thankful for a country that, despite it's flaws, is still the most free society on earth, and enables me to worship, raise a family, work, and live in relative peace.
• I am thankful for blog friends I have never met face-to-face that have been a source of joy and encouragement.

We are blessed!  May God bless and keep you all.

Col. 1:9-12,

Mark