Thanks

It has been awhile hasn't it?  This past week and a half deserves some reflection.

I want to go all the way back to September 25th.  It was a Saturday I believe.  I went apple picking that day with a lot of friends.  It was wonderful.  Just a few days ago our house finished all of our apples from that excursion.  That night I went to a great concert by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans.  Have you ever really enjoyed just the music and showmanship or excellent musicians?  I had the opportunity to do just that.  To put it simply the Preservation Hall Jazz Band was superb.

Tuesday was a birthday day for a few people in my life.  They are all very loved.  They too are superb and I am blessed to know them.  You know who you are.

Then there was Thursday September 29th.  Concert day two!  Calvin College was treated to Atomic Tom, Amberlin, and SWITCHFOOT! 3 hours of epicness.  Yes, I sang along at the top of my lungs, while jumping around like a mad man.  I too can be found with less inhibition given the right circumstances.  Yes I was sweating by the end, and it was gross.  Yes, I was present in the moment and was reawakened to the fact that I was surrounded by a huge body of believers who can be moved to passionate living.  I only hope those passions continue out beyond the concert.  It was a high in the best sense of the word.  Then there was the abrupt reality of life beyond the campus bubble.  My housemates and I come home to a house broken-in to and items of value missing.  Among those items was my laptop (the cause of my delay in blog entries).  In the immediate moment I felt slightly sick to my stomach, knowing that someone was in our living quarters while we were away.  We all joked about lamenting they did not stay for tea, a house tradition.  We prayed, laughed, and continued living.  I love my housemates, because they all bring out the best in one another.  Truly brothers in Christ.

Our lives continue along a path and every encounter can be a blessing.  On our end of things as humans these encounters are perceived as blessings when we begin with thankfulness.  It is difficult at first, but when we shed ourselves of entitlement, thankfulness is put in as the replacement.  You seriously begin to understand what it means to be thankful for every breath.  material things that you once held dear become just tools to do a job.  You actually become hopeful in hard circumstances and the result of these circumstances while still difficult to accept are better received.

Think of this post as a call to thankfulness.  I urge you to give thanks to God more and more.  I urge you to give thanks to those people around you that have shaped and invested in you.  I urge you to shed entitlement and let thankfulness, generosity, and hope grow in your life.  I pray the Spirit stirs you.  I am thankful you keep reading these musings of mine.

Blessings and Thanks in Our Lord Jesus Christ!