GIVING THANKS

Last week was just a great time of Thanksgiving.  I was with Sarah and Matt and Matt’s family in North Carolina.  Thanksgiving really needs to be that, giving thanks!  I took some time to think back over the past few years and realized how much I had to be thankful for. 

My mind went back to the last four vacations that Mary Ann and I took before she got sick.  

2005 –Oahu, Hawaii.  Truly paradise on earth.  Unbelievably big surf. Just awe inspiring.  A week of having all your senses engaged to the max.  In addition we got a call from Bryan that he had passed his PT Boards and now was fully certified.  Did we celebrate that night!

2006 – A trip to the Outer Banks of NC with Sarah, Matt and Matt’s mom and dad.  All Mary and I did was sit in the backseat of the car and enjoy the ride.  We didn’t have to plan a thing or be responsible for anything.  All we were required to do was just enjoy the sites.  While at Kitty Hawk we got a call from Bryan and Beth letting us know that their first baby, due in December, was going to be a boy and they were going to call him Owen. 

2007 – A trip to Banff in the Canadian Rockies with Mary’s brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Patty.  What an incredible time.  The beauty of the region can’t be overstated.  We also saw wild animals galore.  Mary was enamored by the grizzlies.  One came out of the woods in front of our car.  We stopped.  Mary jumps out of the car with her camera needing a close up.  I am pulling her back in screaming, “You’re going to get mauled!”  She knew no fear.  Took on an alligator in Florida one year.  “I just have to get a little closer”.  Should have taken her camera away.

2008 – A trip to Germany.  So much history, both world and family.  We had the joy of seeing the kingdom work our niece and nephew were doing in Berlin.  We visited the little town of Lichtenburg, in which my father grew up.  My Dad left Germany 90 years ago, but the house he grew up in is still owned by family and we got to go in and have afternoon snacks with cousins I had never met.  We also visited my Mom’s home city of Leipzig.  The church her father pastored was still standing but was going to be torn down the following year so a new church could be built.  I was able to stand in the pulpit and imagine the ministry he had.  I also got to see the second floor which had been the home my mom grew up in.

What amazing trips.  How do you top all those “once in a lifetime” experiences?  Only one way. 

A trip to Heaven.   

How thankful I am for the Lord Jesus Christ who has an eternal vacation planned for His children that will never end.