Thankful:

Thanksgiving began tonight.
For the last, who knows how many, years Covington Bible Church has participated in a Thanksgiving service with several other local churches.  This year it was our turn to host the service.  We chose to keep it simple, to emphasize the ministries of labor in our churches every week, and to give an offering to others who have needs.  I hope the other folk who were part of the service appreciated it as much as I did.  I am thankful.
It was good to be reminded of why we should be thankful, even in hard times.  It seems that we have gotten really good at whining and complaining.  It was good to be reminded that what we ought to be doing is offering thanks.  No one who participated in the service was whistling in the dark.  They were folk who had lived long enough, looked hard enough, and yielded to God's plan completely enough, that they have come to see that indeed God is good.
Thanks.
A group of young people from our church presented a funny and thought-provoking drama about the importance of thanksgiving.  I confess that there are times in my life when I could be rightly arrested for failure to be thankful.  Lord deliver me.
Thanks.
It was good to be reminded that I am part of a team.  Several churches banded together in tonight's service.  I could focus on those who weren't there--if you look at the rolls of the participating churches there were far more who weren't there than were--but I choose to focus on those who were: fellow pastors, dedicated missionaries, solid leaders, dedicated workers--the kind of people who build the Kingdom of God.
Thanks.
Thanksgiving began, for me, tonight.  May it last all year.