WHAT I'M THANKFUL FOR ON THANKSGIVING '22

From Vision Beyond Borders 2022 calendar, Nov. 24 

 You can celebrate Christmas all year round if you like, but I'd prefer celebrating Thanksgiving all year round. (I'd also celebrate Resurrection Day, Pentecost, Reformation Day, All Saints Day and maybe Groundhog Day all year round, too, but that's for a different blog!) So allow me to start by wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

So allow me to mention some things I've been thankful for this year:

• Of course, top of the list is the Triune God: Our gracious Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Because without God, there wouldn't be anything else to put on the list, or a meaning for what's on the list.
• My wife, Rebecca (aka Becky). We celebrated our 39th anniversary this year.
• My church, Northside Baptist Church: for senior pastor Jeremy Couture; for Joel Johnston and Eric Billin, who have filled in while we were looking for a new worship leader, and for Alex Darnall who will be joining us in that role; for my Sunday School class (taught by Jim Myers, Glen Christie, and Tim Schlotterbeck), my men's Bible study, my D-group, and the men's prayer breakfast, and missionary friends Bob Henninger and Rowland Mondal.
• For other friends that have been part of my life, either in-person or on-line (and sometimes off-the-wall?): Richard and Trish Walton and Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, Bill Scott, Mel Brown, Joshua Jacobs, Gary and Amy Wixtrom, James Lawson, Mark Mirza, Kerry Jackson, Kerry Nietz, Donna Fletcher Crow, Steve Sering, Mike Cassady, Dan Schafer, Andrew Horning, Russell Brooksbank, Grady Loy, Lonnie Atkeson, David Patton, David Huddleston, Dave Hope, Tod Moses, Robert Roberg, Dwight Liles, and Monte Baker. (Of course, I'll probably miss someone.)
  
• For other fellowships: a three-time-a-week phone-line men's prayer time; involvement with mission groups Voice of the Martyrs, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Spirit of Martyrdom, Vision Beyond Borders, Medical Ambassadors International/Community Health Evangelism, Ethnos 360 (I'm wearing their T-shirt as I'm typing), World Venture, International Mission Board, and North American Mission Board; Facebook groups Discussion Board for Jesus Music 1969-1989, Female Christian Rock & Metal, Calvinistic Dispensationalists Unite!, and The Daniel Band, and Libertarian Christian Institute and Mere Liberty.
• For my employer, where I've been for 22+ years now.
• For getting familiar with some Christian musicians (always a joy), especially members of Divine Martyr, Reclaim The Day, Undefeated, Hush Harbor, Brave WRSHP, and True Revival.
• For the interviewees on this blog I've dealt with this past year. I have had 51 interviews since starting this blog July '20, and 35 have been since last Thanksgiving. I enjoyed all of them, but some stand out by how much the interviewee blessed me during the process and some by how much the interviewee was blessed by being interviewed. One story about the latter: Usually, I ask for an interview, tell them I'll send questions in a week, send them questions in a week or two or so, in some cases getting the answers without a reminder (though not all). When I contacted Divine Martyr and told Woody Hughes about interviewing them, it was 3-4 days before Woody was checking up on getting the questions! That made my day.
• Last but not least, thank you to anyone who reads this blog. 

Again, happy Thanksgiving.