Thanks Giving

Although slightly belated, I thought I would publish a list of five things that I am thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday.

1. God. In a way, I can see God involved in many of the blessings that I am thankful for this year, but somehow I think that He deserves to be first and foremost, the forefront if you please. Whether it was during a brutal surgery rotation or the rekindling of a long-lost relationship, God has truly been faithful throughout this past year.


2. Family. Traditionally Thanksgiving is a time for family, and I was blessed to have my parents in Loma Linda this year. They were able to spend time with Sunny and me, as well as also meet up with the Damsteegt family. On Saturday evening, the children including Sunny, Mel, and Adrian organized a little music recital for the parents including Sunny doing a cello solo with yours truly accompanying. More on this later...


3. Sunny. One of the reasons I haven't updated my blog lately is because of this girl. We've been spending a lot of time together, just catching up from the last two years. The more I get to know her, the more I admire the way she lives her faith. I could learn a lot from Sunny.


4. Ministries. Lately, we have seen an abundance of opportunities and spiritual blessings for our various ministries. The Advent HOPE Board of Directors and Executive Committee had a joint retreat recently that surpassed all expectations (see Joelle's blog for more details). Audioverse has been asked to play a major part in recording GYC this year. As well, Restoration has confirmed a speaker (still to be approved by LLU), The Josiah Ministry is beginning to expand its role into networking, and GYC has recently formed official ties to several existing youth conferences including Southwest Youth Conference, Western Youth Conference, ACTS for Christ, Southeast Youth Conference, and the newly formed Great Lakes Youth Conference.


5. Black Friday. For the first time ever, I participated in that special holiday tradition known as Black Friday. Sunny and I got up at 4:15 am and were among the first twenty people outside PepBoys. We snagged a $10 gift card which we promptly used to buy an $80 portable GPS unit (MSRP $230). We also hit Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, JCPenny, JoAnns, and Office Depot and I found good deals on an MP3 player, bluetooth keyboard and mouse, nice 512MB graphics card for my computer, and a shirt. Sunny also found a cutting table (for sewing) for 50% off.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Hebrews 13:15