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It has been a long, long time since I last posted here and I hope to be back sooner to post again.

This time of year is a good one for reflection and I have taken some time over the past week to think about what I am most thankful for as I move past the halfway point of my 53rd year in this world.  This list may not hit them all, but I think it will get the top 5 to 10 items that bring me the most joy and peace.

I would encourage you to take the time to reflect and think about what you are most thankful for.  I know I take so much for granted and it is high time I gave thanks:

1. I am thankful to live in a country where  I can worship freely and be an active member of the Christian community.
2. I have the most wonderful wife and two awesome sons.  They are the joy of my life and I cannot fathom them being any better or more rewarding to me than they are.
3. My life has been immeasurably blessed by my in-laws.  My parents died right after I married my wife and my father in law and mother in law have been so supportive and loving to me for as long as I can remember.
4. I am blessed beyond measure to be able to earn a good living in a business that I have started.  So much of my success comes from relationships and friendships I have acquired over the years and that is a blessing also.
5. I have relatively good health and am  able to come and go as I please in most situations.

I could add many others to this list, but these are the top 5 that I give thanks for everyday.

What is your list of the top 5 things you are thankful for?  Are you giving thanks for the many blessings you have?

Take time to reflect and say thank you to those who are making a difference.  You will be glad you did.

via YouTube – THE DIGITAL STORY OF THE NATIVITY.

http://www.youtube.com/v/GkHNNPM7pJA

I don’t like to typically pass this kind of thing along, but I find it culturally relevant and the message is timeless.

I hope you enjoy.  Keep the spirit all year long!

When I think of today I think back many years to my childhood and young adulthood.  These were the years when my dad was still with us here on this Earth.  I’ll do my best to share a few memories I have and put them in perspective regarding how they have affected me.

I was the youngest of three sons, so my dad was a little older when I was growing up.  He was 36 when I was born, so most of  my childhood and young adulthood was my 40′s and 50′s.  I suspect that being the last child and one that came later made the novelty wear off a little, but I have no real complaints.

My dad was a veteran of World War 2, having served in the 3rd Marine Corp Division at Iwo Jima.  This singular event was something I never fully grasped until a number of years after his death.  Iwo Jima-Iwo as he called it when he referred to that time.  In comparison to today’s veterans, my dad and his friends rarely talked about these times and I suspect now I know why.  He commented shortly before his death that he was always thankful for his life, even though he died at 59, because he never expected to come back from the Pacific.  If the movie representations shown in recent years are anywhere close, I now know why.

My life growing up in the quiet town of Lincoln, IL was full of spending time with my dad and his friends.  I can remember so many of them very vividly; John Daugherty, Paul Yarcho and 3 of my four uncles; Paul Mahler, Greg Fitzpatrick and Lowell “Nip” Young, always come to mind.  They were all good drinking buddies, loved to play cards together and all great family men.  It is so sad that all of them have passed away except for Uncle Greg.  They were great.

The most important thing I remember about my dad was that he intervened when he needed to, but otherwise he kind of kept to himself.  My career path was going to be significantly different than his and I suspect it was challenging and foreign to him when it came to where I wanted to attend school and then what I wanted to do.

I feel very fortunate to have two wonderful sons and a fantastic wife.  The Lord has blessed me abundantly with these relationships and so many more that we have forged during this life.  I am grateful to both my biological and heavenly father for all that they have provided, and continue to provide to me.

I hope all of you out there that are fathers will have a wonderful and blessed Father’s Day!

Some days it is better for me to share something with you that comes from someone other than myself.  This little story was forwarded by a good friend this morning and it really hit the mark for me.

I hope you enjoy this as well!

”Give thanks in all circumstances…’ 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In order to have a grateful heart you must learn to be grateful for flawed people and imperfect gifts. Be grateful when your child attempts to make the bed, even though they make it imperfectly. Be grateful when your spouse expresses affection, even if they do it awkwardly. Be grateful that your body still moves around, even if it’s more wrinkled and lumpy. Don’t wait to feel thankful. The thinking and the doing – leads to the feeling. ‘Give thanks in all circumstances’ calls for a decision and an act of your will, not an emotional response. It’s why Americans call their annual holiday Thanksgiving – not thanks feeling. James Dodson wrote a moving book called Final Rounds, in which he talks about the last months of his father’s life. They were both avid golfers, and when his father had been diagnosed with a terminal illness James took him to Scotland so they could play golf together at some of the world’s most celebrated courses. At one point James’s dad asked him about his marriage and family. James’s answer was evasive; he was so consumed by his work that there was little time left over. These were the words of a dying father to his son: ‘I wish I could slow you both down…The danger of great ambition is that you work so hard, you may some day wake up and find that the things you really wanted, were the things you had all along.’ Paul writes, ‘Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’ (Ephesians 5:14 NIV). Every once in a while we do wake up. And when we do, what we wake up to is gratitude for the things we take for granted.