Thanksgiving Weekend

It's Saturday night. The past two weekends Cindy and I have had the privilege of helping our daughter (our youngest child- at 22 she seems younger than that) move. Last weekend we spent Friday and some of Saturday apartment hunting. This weekend we- and several church families- moved her stuff to Salem for her first full-time apartment all by herself!
I am truly thankful that she has a job- a good job with a future, a job with possibilities for God to use her to impact our world. I am thankful she is a young woman of faith. I am thankful she wants to make her own way and pay for what she can afford. I am thankful that my wife is willing to continue to make sacrifices so that we can serve the Lord in the way we have been called. I am thankful for a church that allows me to serve God in their midst. Though our church is coming through perhaps the most difficult two year stretch of our ministry, we love one another and we are learning to pray for one another and for those God puts in our paths. \
I am thankful for parents who raised me so that faith could grow. I thank God for the head start I had in serving God.
My son is serving our country in the US Air Force- and for he and the thousands and thousands of others serving I daily give thanks. I am thankful he married a wonderful young woman who loves him and puts up with his six month long deployments.
I could probably spend hours and hours compiling lists of things for which I am thankful. Perhaps the most significant part of my life for which I daily give thanks are the relationships God has privileged to bring into my life.
Tomorrow is Sunday- the first Sunday of Advent. Over the past few years I have come to enjoy the Advent season more fully. Focusing on the season enables me to get past the sheer commercialism of Christmas and remember that with the advent of Christ comes all the spiritual blessings and perhaps most significantly, the promise of His second Advent! We celebrate Advent sort of informally at our church- but the Sunday's of Advent are marked by different Scripture readings, the lighting of the Advent Candle, and a particular focus on the multi-dimensional meaning of Christ.
So, welcome to Advent. Welcome to Christ whose presence daily enriches my life. Welcome to the opportunities God brings into my life to deepen my relationship with Him and to share Him with those around me.