Thanksgiving

(will) so i know this is cheesy to have a blog post right before thanksgiving entitled "Thanksgiving." lame. be creative, will. but it's really crazy that it takes a holiday for me to look at my life and reflect on the things that i'm thankful for - to really look at my life a little more than a year ago and to see how different it is now. so, i'm about to unload just a little bit of the things that come to mind. i'm mostly hesitant to share everything, just because it's the internet and its open and its vulnerable and it's my life - but there is reality in thinking who really reads this anyway. so here it is :)

i'm thankful. so i have a wife that i didn't have last year. she is amazing and she ridiculously complements my weaknesses. i have no doubt in my mind that we are meant for each other, and my only regret so far is not leading her better towards the Lord. she loves to love me. she knows whats best for me when i can't see past my selfishness or my pride or my laziness. she depicts Jesus to me every day, and i look up to her. i'm thankful. i can't believe last year i had taken a semester off from school. i moved back home to save up money and was working two jobs. life seems to have changed so much since then. not only did it allow for me to find a major that i enjoy, go to a school that i like, and succeed because i am interested in what i am learning, it also allowed for me to be more involved with my job. i have found myself in a room with a handful of godly men, including the two owners, discussing the future of our business and structuring it in a way not only for success as a business, but also in a way to be a huge venue to lead others towards Christ. i was broken and redeemed. i'm thankful. last week my grandmother had to have surgery because she had two arteries that were 100% and 80% clogged. she had the double bypass, which ended up being a triple once they actually got in, last thursday, and not a week later, she is being released from the hospital tomorrow morning (wednesday). ? i don't know either. i'm thankful. i have a brother who has bravely joined with other men to defend our country. i would like to think that somehow i could muster up the courage to leave my wife for an entire year to go to a really really sandy, hot place and have my life threatened. but because he's there, i don't have to be. i'm thankful. i have a family who is close, but could be closer. amidst my lack of communication, they still love and support me and aub. regardless of how i may appear to be or act, they think highly of me and assume the best. i'm thankful. i have no idea how i wound up face first into the Grace of God. i don't know what my life would be like without Jesus. i don't understand that amidst my continued sin, Your Love still grips me tight. You set me free. every day i find myself humbled by Your creation and Your desperate pursuit of me. so intimately close and real. You build a fire in me that makes me want to burst into dance in a classroom full of students falling asleep. You have surrounded me with Your people who open my eyes to see who You are. You love me, You love me, You love me. why? how? i can't wait... i'm thankful.