Giving Thanks – A Week of Thanksgiving (Monday).

Thursday will be the national holiday that we call Thanksgiving Day. It is a time to eat turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, yams and pumpkin pie. Those who love football will get their fill of Thursday games. Many people will gather with their extend family for the day. For our family, it will be a time of giving thanks.

We need to give thanks on more than just one day a year! There is much for us to be thankful about. This week Full Court Presby will focus on giving thanks.

Brenda and I are very thankful that our daughter has returned from a five month stint on the mission field. The country in which she was serving will continue to be un-named. Several of those who served with her are returning to continue the work they started. We pray that the “seeds” that have been planted will yield a tremendous harvest!

I am very thankful for the deacons at our church. Sunday morning I found out that we have person in the hospital up by Seattle. The person had back surgery on Friday. I made the drive up to visit them today. Guess what? Their deacon had already been to the hospital to visit them this morning!

I am very thankful for our folks who are delivering “Thanksgiving baskets” to some needy families in our area. We work through a local elementary school. This particular school has a very high percentage of its students that qualify for free/reduced lunch and breakfast. Just this morning while delivering one of the baskets they “discovered” a woman who just walked out of a terribly abusing relationship. This woman didn’t even own a coat. This woman has now become one of the people we are assisting. We are making a difference in our community one person at a time.

I am thankful that we have a worship service that is at a time other than Sunday morning. Saturday night we had a new family join us for worship. The family has been very active in another church a few miles up the road. They love their church and its people. But there is a problem—the wife’s job now requires her to work on Sunday mornings. Their church doesn’t have their own building—they meet in a high school. They have visited a couple of churches that have worship on Saturday night. Evergreen is definitely the smallest church they have visited. They were just thrilled to be able to worship as a family. Will they return to Evergreen? Who knows! Yet, we were a blessing for them this past weekend and they were a blessing to us.

If you decide to comment this week… please post one or two things you are thankful for.