Predictably, Stuff I'm Thankful For...

...Christ, and the past, present & future work He's done, is doing, and will do in my life.
...my wife, and her photographic genius.
...my painter and my ballerina.
...my higher-order life-liver sister Jilly, and barnstorming brother-in-law Shane, because they make each other happy, and the Napoleonic-complex dog Dignan.
...my Shania-loving siter-in-law Jodie, and legal-beagle brother-in-law Stephen...and the gunslinging-qb nephew and pink-princess niece.
...my in-laws, who really have always been there for us.
...soldiers that do their jobs and their families that sacrifice.
...same for police and firefighters.
...the fact that I ask questions regarding how much we can afford to spend on Christmas this year, not if we can spend on Christmas this year.
...my friends I still keep in touch with from high school.
...the fact that I got to go to high school.
...my friends I still keep in touch with from college.
...the fact that I got to go to college.
...a church that feels more like family that a job, or a ministry. A really big and wonderfully bizarre family, but a true family nonetheless.
...the fact that I got to go to seminary, and one that really prepared me for my church family.
...the benefits of suburbia, such as being relatively crime-free, providing a good public education (and all that entails), and generally nice folks.
...co-workers to laugh with. And the best kind of laughs, too. Those created because the people are both fun and funny. The belly-laughs where you have to take your glasses off and wipe your eyes.
...co-workers that "get it" and push you to be your best because they're the best.
...that former teens ask me to do their weddings, and there've been a lot this year.
...that former teens make it a point to check up on me while they're home for the holidays.
...my dog, Lloyd. He really is a part of the family.
...to The Diner patrons. It's peculiar how this little piece of therapy for me brings so many of you along for the ride. The private e-mails, the little conversations we have about the things you read "but would never comment" about, the emaphty with my Cobain-esque mood swings, the passionate disagreements...makes for a nice little community establishment.

In all sincerity, Happy Thanksgiving Day, readers. I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, in the company of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord! They are studied by all who delight in them. Splendid and majestic is His work; and His righteousness endures forever.