Thanksgiving List - November, 2008

Not that my list is any more important than yours, but perhaps my prayerful reflections will spur you to write your own list. In fact, would you do that in the next week – make your own list and thank God often for each item on your list all through this Thanksgiving month of November. After all, a thankful heart creates a positive perspective/outlook on life. If our gratitude is specifically directed to God, true joy becomes a reality in the heart of the Christ-follower. Without further ado:

I am thankful that God chased me down in 1972. For some time my testimony implied that I found the Lord. Through the years I began to realize that God found me! Only one month before graduating from high school, Jesus became the Lord of my life and the focus of my attention. Thank You, Jesus, for dying for me. Thank You, Father, for protecting me in those years of reckless behavior just before bringing me into Your family. Thank You, Spirit, for showing me my sins, then leading me to repentance and faith in Jesus.

I am thankful for God’s Word. Oh, what it means to have guidance in this dark and painful world! God did not save me and then say, “You are on your own – hope it goes OK for you!” He told me exactly how He wants me to live. He prepared me for good times and hard times. In this season where Christ-followers are reminded of God’s gifts, His Word has to be one of the finest gifts ever given to mankind. It is so good to be part of a church that has great respect and appreciation for Scripture.

I am thankful for thirty-one and a half years of marriage to an incredible lady – God’s gift to me: Linda Faile Talley. What can I say? The first years of our marriage weren’t great (Linda would have told you the same thing), but we were committed to God, and thus, to one another. I recognize that commitment is not always enough – but, this is my list. Somewhere along the way, we figured it out. We stayed together long enough that God took our marriage from acceptable to good to fantastic. Tennyson was right as he articulated the best we can find in this life: “Tis better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.” Oh, thank You, Lord, for beautiful, sweet Linda!

I am thankful for my family. Three incredible kids and their incredible spouses, three perfect grandchildren, a mother who is with the Lord and a father whose mind has him between here and heaven but still loves us deeply, a step-mother who loves me dearly and whom I love dearly and is better to my dad than any of our family deserves, two great sisters and their families, an extended family of many Failes who continue to love me and keep up with me, uncles, aunts, cousins and many more. Why should I be so blessed?

I am thankful for Grace Community Church. Linda and I had dreamed and prayed about being a part of this wonderful church for a year before we actually began our time in harness with our dear brothers and sisters in Christ at Grace. GCC has grown considerably in these last ten years, so the family of dear brothers and sisters in Christ continues to grow. I am so grateful. Could anyone have sensed more love than we did during our great trial? No. That’s the only conceivable answer I can offer. Thank You, Jesus, and thank you, Grace Community Church Family!

I am thankful for elder-rule. Our church is made up of several pastors, not just one. It would be impossible for me to tell you how much of a blessing that is to me. I have strong opinions – and, I can be indecisive. Elder-rule is a protection against both extremes, but allows for the best ideas to proceed while the worst ideas end where they belong – in file 13. That is not only true for me, but for all of the men our church has chosen to lead here. I say every year that the most important decision we make as a congregation is who we will ask to serve as an elder at GCC. When you realize that every person on the elder board is a pastor, you recognize the importance of the decision. (BTW, we will soon begin the process of bring new elder(s) into service at our church) I am especially grateful that the elders allowed me to serve my wife and family (and you, reading on the blog) this past year by filling the gap that my attention to Linda created. I am also extremely grateful that the elders encourage me to make teaching God’s Word my first priority (see above about Scripture).

I am thankful for the staff at GCC. There are too many blessings on this point to enumerate. We are saying goodbye to our office manager of nine plus years on the day I write this article. Becky Brisson has blessed so very many of you at Grace. For those of you (on the blog, maybe) who do not know her – I am sorry that you never got the chance to interact with a godly woman who has served the Lord for most all of her 83 years. The image you have in your mind of an 83 year-old woman working in a church office is wrong – Becky Brisson is in better health and more active than you can possibly imagine! Well, I have to move on to say that KJ, David, Bill, Keisha, and Shaun are family to me – true brothers and sisters in Christ. The ways that they served our family and our church during Linda’s illness and home-going cannot be adequately described. No one deserves such love and care as I have received from these guys – I LOVE EACH ONE OF YOU!

I am thankful for you. Whether you are reading this in the church newsletter, on the church website, or on my blog, I want you to know that I thank God for you! It is impossible to place a value on friends. Some of you are a part of my life while there are some of you I have never met. I know you care about me, though, and it is most likely because of your relationship with Jesus. He brings us together and molds us into one family. As we move toward the Advent Season, let us lift our hearts in unified praise and gratitude for/to the one Who humbled Himself, left heaven and came to earth (talk about downward mobility!), kept all of the law and lived a perfect life, was mocked and put to death, but rose from the dead that we might have eternal life for all who will believe! It is a “foolish message” to the world, but it is life to us who believe – and I am grateful!