i Worship

Yesterday was a great day at the Journey. I'll, hopefully, have Erik's talk up by tonight. If you have never gone to our website and watched any of his talks, you need to watch this one. He asked the tough question of whether or not we are ungrateful. And you may think you know the answer to that, but watch the talk and then see if your answer is still the same. He challenged us, right there in service, to write down some things that we are grateful for. Everyone had a piece of paper and a pen given to them, and he took about five minutes out of his talk time to do this. I, unfortunately, didn't have the opportunity to, since I have to float around between the Tech Booth and the stage. So this morning, I wanted to make my list. This isn't complete, but it's the first twenty. Just as he asked us to do, in his talk, I'm going to be adding to this list regularly. Thanks, Erik, for an eye opening sermon. I love you, man. You always challenge me, and I need that, if I'm going to be someone who makes a difference in this world. 

1. I'm grateful for my salvation, that I serve a God who loves me unconditionally.  2. I'm grateful for my family, particularly my wife and son, but my whole family.  3. I'm grateful for my friends and meaningful relationships with people who care about me and my well being. 4. I'm grateful for my country, and the men and women who selflessly defend it and all the freedoms that I enjoy.  5. I'm grateful that I have a nice house to live in.  6. I'm grateful that I've been provided for my whole life, by God and by my family, so that I have never had to go without any necessity.  7. I'm grateful for my education.  8. I'm grateful for having a job that I absolutely love, and desire to pour myself into completely.  9. I'm grateful for my talent and the fact that it has allowed me to support my family.  10. I'm grateful for the prayers that I know people send my way. 11. I'm grateful to live in a place where I'm allowed to pray openly, and people are allowed to pray for me and others openly. 12. I'm grateful for great leadership in my life from those who have mentored me and are still doing so. 13. I'm grateful for my health. 14. I'm grateful that I have all five of my senses, that I can see the beauty, smell the sweet, taste the spicy, hear the music, and touch the soft. 15. I'm grateful for pizza (I know that sounds bunk, but I swear, I'm grateful for it!) 16. I'm grateful for technology, that I can call my wife at anytime, or my mom who lives 500 miles away. Or I can DVR a show that I want to watch for later. Or that I can take pictures of my son as he grows up and be able to look back and see how he grew. 17. I'm grateful for warm weather, especially after five months of cold! 18. I'm grateful that I have clothes to wear and a warm bed to sleep in. 19. I'm grateful people who are dreamers and bring us amazing ideas and inventions. 20. And this one is kind of a joke and is definitely for Shawn... I'm grateful for great hair! :)

Make a list guys. Add to it. Just like Erik said, it will change your outlook on life. I'm going to, because I have way too much to be grateful for, and I don't deserve most of it. 

Here's the songs from Yesterday:   How He Loves Us (Eddie Kirkland), Breathe On Me (Todd Fields), Enough (Chris Tomlin), I Stand Amazed (this is an old hymn, but our version is like Kristian Stanfill's), How Great Is Our God (Chris Tomlin), Thank You Jesus (me, Robbie Cheuvront).