So, I broke the cardinal rule of blogging - I failed to follow through with 10 consecutive days of blogposts after I said that I would provide just that. I apologize.

To tell the truth, it has been tough to find things to be thankful about. Saying that makes me feel terrible. I look around and see people that are much worse off than I am, and it's hard to see me through their situation. I have learned through this that God is still working on me, and He is far from done - I am thankful for that.

My post today is about hope. Hope is particular to the person that holds it, and it is something that can't be taken. You may give up on it or allow it to be given away, but it can't be taken from you. Hope requires an object. That object could be a situation, thing, accomplishment, or person. It could also be a combination of all of these things. The dangerous thing about hope is that you will be betrayed by it if your object of hope cannot be trusted absolutely. Thinking about this makes me glad that my hope is in Christ.

Many different things try to gain your trust. The most recent example that comes to mind are the elections. Politicians push and drive for months on end to show their best face, and speak their best speeches. They hope to gain support and devotion from their "fellow men." The goal behind a political campaign is to establish one's popularity with their target group. In the case of the Presidential campaign, Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain wanted to make their plight hit home with the average American. The end goal was for me to see my future through their well-constructed telescope. I was to see a light at the end of the tunnel, and find hope through their promises of a brighter tomorrow. The sad fact is that neither of these men could possibly deliver all that was touted. I believe that Mr. Obama will do a fantastic job because of the people that will be behind him, not because of the promises that he made. For the record, I would have felt the same way about Mr. McCain.

Opponents of hope would have us to believe that hope is futile. They would like for us to abandon hope, and cling to things that could make us focus on the situation at hand. Recently, evil broke into my world. It tried to force me to abandon a little piece of hope, and cling to anger instead. Sickness attempted to loosen my grip on hope and direct me to take hold of bitterness. Fear manifests as financial instability and tries to pull me from hope and drag me away to despair.

If my hope were in things that I see with my carnal eyes, then this task would be easy. It would be a cake walk, to be honest. I will not lie - for moments over the last 7 months, my focus has sometimes drifted from my hope. In these times, I have to remember my hope. I have to seek out my hope and turn my eyes towards it. The neat thing about my source of hope is that He seeks me out in these times. Jesus makes it easy for me to place my hope in Him. He is perfect in all situations, and He never falls short of my expectations. I find hope in a song on the radio, or a passage in a book. I can see it on the faces of the volunteers that stand in the entrance at Wal-Mart, ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. It's on the faces of the people in my church that are facing terrible situations.

I can see the absence of hope on faces that I pass in the stores. This void hangs on the shoulders of people as they search for something to fill the empty hole in their soul. They will try to shove money or situation or accomplishments into this hole, but it will not be filled by those things. Shoving things in will only increase the size of the hole, and that will lead to desperation. I see this load of despair on others as they struggle to just survive during this time of perpetual joy. As they hear merry tunes that jump from the supermarket speakers, their souls will be all the more hollow and hurting. Their situation has gotten so massive that it blocks their view toward anything that could bring hope.

These groups of people will flock to our churches this Christmas season, and we should prepare for their arrival. We should allow God to soften our hearts so that we can be truly compassionate when they approach our doors. Tears will have to flow from our souls so that they see the love of Jesus through a total stranger. This is what true hope is about. True hope is the kind of hope that is always there, no matter the present state of our life. The only person that can provide true hope is Jesus. This true hope is what I am truly thankful for this season. It would be a shame for me to hold this hope in my heart and not tell others about it.

Will you share your hope?

I apologize for the late post. I travelled all day, and my battery was dead when I landed at home.

Day 2 - Giving thanks for my friends

Friendship is one of the areas of my life that has taught me volumes about myself and the world I live in. I have had friends that have come into my life just for a season, and those that I have the pleasure of walking my daily journey with. Friends have beckoned for me to raise the expectations that I have for myself. They have caused me to re-center when I veer too far to the left or the right. They spur me on when I lag, and tap the breaks for me when things start to hurtle out of control. Friends fill in the soundtrack of life, and they add color to complete the picture. They are the spice that adds flavor to the meal of life. Now that I've gone melodramatic, let me say this - I am truly thankful for my friends.

I am blessed to be able to experience true, pure friendship on a daily basis. My friends don't hit the road at the first sign of trouble. They instead stand by my side and help to pick me up when I fall. They rejoice with me when I am on the top of the mountain, and they keep vigil with me when darkness abounds. They offer words of encouragement, and words of criticism when I need them both. When they ask "How's it going?" they really mean it. They don't just wait for their turn to talk when we have conversation. My true friends offer sound advice, and not white noise.

My friends don't need to hear their name to know that our friendship is real, but I feel the need to address one particular group that is vital to the development of my spiritual life. The worship team that I am allowed to serve with is a constant blessing. They have become as close as family to me, and I miss them terribly when I don't get to be around them. I have had the pleasure of seeing the hand of God at work all around me while I have served with them. I enjoy learning from the wiser men of our group, and the advice that they offer is true and from the heart. They inspire me through tough times when I feel that I don't have a clue. We have a tremendous sense of unity that cannot be duplicated or purchased. These men are much more than fellow bandmembers, they are friends in the truest sense of the word.

A new arena of friendship has opened around me, and I enjoy it a great deal. My digital friends from the blogosphere have blessed my soul with words of support during recent tough times. Links that beckon others to pray for me and my family when we desperately need it are like an extra lifeline thrown into the tide. I find myself looking forward to checking the "tweets" each morning, and I enjoy their awesome posts. I only wish that one day, we could all get together and exchange pleasantries face to face. In lieu of that, I will check for updates and look at the twitpics when they are posted.

@mytwitterfriendsfromallcornersoftheearth Thanks and blessings to you and yours!

Thank you, friends - I count you all as blessings from my Savior.

So for those of you that stumble upon this blog, I have an idea for you - 10 days of thanks.

Thanksgiving is a week and a half away, and I choose to start giving thanks today. On your blogs, or to your family, or at your job, or to total strangers, start giving thanks today. Tell people how thankful you are that you know them. Tell your family how thankful you are to to be associated with them. Pick up your kids and whisper your praise in their ears. If you can't touch those that you are thankful for, send them a hand-written letter that paints a picture of your thanks. Give thanks to those around you. 10 days of thanks, culminating in a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. Don't let Thanksgiving be just a transition day that fires the start gun of the Christmas shopping season.

I will post each day something that I am thankful for. I will make notes throughout the next 10 days that I intend to present to my family at our Thanksgiving table. I challenge you to start this year making Thanksgiving a true time of giving thanks.

My first post of thanks: My Family.

I am thankful for my Heavenly Father. He never lets me stay down when I fall. I am thankful that He lets me fall, because I can then be compassionate for others when they do the same thing. I love my wife dearly. She is responsible for the joy in my life, and life would not be worth it without her. My kids are great kids. They allow me to have fun, and they teach me how to be a parent. They are both my sanity and my insanity, and I would not trade the wild ride of fatherhood for anything in the world.

My mom and dad are fountains of inspiration. They teach me how to be a good parent, and they kept me tethered to God through prayers when I tried to run. Without them, I wouldn't know how to be a husband, father, and man of God. I love my sister and brother-in-law. They show me the meaning of "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

I have aunts, uncles, cousins, and nieces spread from sea to shining sea (literally.) I have family in the frozen tundra of Alaska, the lush garden of Seattle (even though the lush green comes from depressing rain), the frying pan of Texas, the hills of Tennessee, the valleys of Mississippi, and the crawfish pot of Louisiana. My heart is full of thanks for all of my kinfolk. I won't thank each one individually, because it would make for a very lengthy post. I do have to mention one specifically corny thing that my Aunt Latrice will appreciate (because we are both corny.) I think of the Hay family every time I open my freezer. They live in Alaska, and the freezer reminds me of the frozen tundra.

I am thankful for my church family. Through times where you get punched in the mouth by situations, they wrap their arms around you and make you feel like a million dollars. God shows me how to love without bounds through my church family.

I am a dearly blessed man because of all of these. Thank you, Lord - help me to see these things that I am thankful for each day.

That is my first post of thanks. Tomorrow - Friends.

Your turn.

I have been struggling with something over the last few weeks that has my mind in a quandary. I was approached with what seems to be an awesome opportunity, but it will take me out of an already awesome situation that I really enjoy being in. To be honest, I am comfortable. I don't feel the need to go anywhere because of where I'm at.

When I pray about the situations, I don't feel any kind of resolution. I just feel the need to really seek and understand God's will. Should I feel that I am entitled to resolution so that I know without a doubt what God is calling me to?

In trying to understand things, I read Jonah this morning. At first glance, I didn't understand his desire to see the city of Nineveh destroyed. After thinking about it for a bit, I guess that he was looking for vindication.

He had been instructed to go and preach to them, and he was punished severely when he didn't do what he was told to. That city was in a similar state of rebellion, and I guess his emotions clouded the situation. You would think that deliverance from sitting in the belly of a fish for 3days would have put things in a different light. I would have thought that he would be so strengthened by the miracle that he had just lived through that he would want to tell the world about the goodness of God. I guess that it was hard to look through his ordeal and see the hand of God.

He didn't see that God was the one that delivered him, just as He delivered Nineveh. What a pity for what could have been a tremendous experience for Jonah. Instead of finding joy in seeing an entire city spared from the penance of sin, he saw frustration that they didn't get what he thought they "deserved." Many ministers would jump at the chance to see the reaction that Jonah saw in Nineveh. It would re-energize most and spur them on for greater things for God's Kingdom. Jonah lost sight of all of that because of the mis-understanding that he had with God's will, and his own emotionally troubled state.

I gather from this that God will work through us, even though we don't understand or agree with what we are doing. My finite understanding of love and compassion doesn't diminish God's capacity for showing those same characteristics to the people that He wants me to touch. If that is confusing, I apologize. Think of it this way - a water glass can be used to give water to someone in the same way that a soup bowl can. Each vessel can hold the water, even if the soup bowl is usually used to hold soup. The difference in how they are used comes in with the intention of the user, not the vessel.

I guess that I need to take the opportunity to learn from different situations. I don't want to miss out on something that God has for me because my present situation is too comfortable. I need to remember that it is His will for My life.

I feel strongly about what is written below. I think someone that needs this prayer will come across this one day, so I will not refrain from relaying what is on my heart. I just came through what seemed like the belly of a fish for not doing what God wanted me to. I don't intend to spend the next section of my life repeating those same mistakes. If this causes offense, please forgive me.

Dear Lord, please take away this tunnel vision that I have given myself to. Continue to take away the blinders that I have put on in an effort to make myself comfortable. You have turned the heat up on this cauldron, and stirred the water of my life. I realize now that You don't want me to be stagnant and full of disease. I now know that prolonged seasons of calm water can stifle Your move in my life. I enjoy the scent of Your presence, and I remember the feeling that I had before I could feel the warmth of Your arms wrapped around me. I am beginning to remember the longing desire that was cultivated in the cold, damp grip of desperation. Your salvation satisfied that hunger in me so many years ago, but I have since forgotten that hunger pain. Thank you, Lord, for reminding me and bringing me out my state of utopia. I over-indulged in Your presence to the point that I neglected the draw to bring others to Your table. Please forgive me for that, Father. Lead me and any others that find themselves in the same situation. Let us all remember the feeling that we had before we knew you. Bring us to tears as we think of the masses that have yet to smell the intoxicating aroma of your sweet breath. Strengthen us so that we can endure the journey ahead, and provide for us when situations get us down. Jesus, be the lifter of our heads. In Your name, Amen.

Thanks to Tim Gabbard for providing the video. I am the big mug cooking the hotdogs with the broke down "tropical" hat.

Today was a good day.

I have to say that I have tried with all that is in me to give into an attitude of defeat. I have enough reasons around me to feel that way, if I look hard enough. I can go to any store or street corner to see examples of why life just isn't good, and fair treatment is never a possibility. The thing is, I choose to see what I want to see.

Choice can either liberate or confine.

Choice has power - and that power is awesome.

Choice is what I have control over.

We had an outreach Friday night for our city. I did not want to participate, and I tried to work up the courage to tell the man responsible for the event that I had valid reasons for not helping. My house was broken into, my kids were sick, and my car broke down on Thursday. I know that he would have understood, because he is a great friend.

I decided to not attach myself to negativity - just for that night. I decided to cook hot-dogs for kids that would eat them. I decided to try and forget about the week that was and focus on the night that could be.

Choice is a powerful thing.

Nearly 250 kids showed up at one house. We had three houses that were hosting kids on Halloween. 250 + at one house = victory.

I did not have any wonderful realization of anything supernatural that night. I was tired, and my feet hurt afterwards. I could have played the "I told you so" game with myself.

I didn't.

I was tired - from the inside out. My soul ached. I felt like I had gone through a title fight with a heavy-weight boxer. The week had taken a toll on me, and I felt weak. I had shed tears, piled on worry, and lived in fear of what was to come next. Waking up this morning, I needed a fresh breath from God. No other fresh breath would work, and no coffee from Starbucks would spur me on. I needed God - plain and simple.

Service was amazing.

Worship was pure and intimate.

I felt Holy Ground.

God's arrival was not because of what I brought to the table. He showed up because He knew that I needed Him. I felt like a physical weight was lifted off of my shoulders, and I could smell the presence of my Jesus. My heart leaped from my chest, and I looked with the expectancy of a child as I scanned the room for Him. Jesus wrapped his arms around me in the middle of my pain, despite my weak spirit. It is such a tremendous feeling when we do what we were created to do. It finishes our puzzle when we give in to the embrace of our salvation.

My worries were washed away with sobbing tears.

We see what we want to see. I will see the things around me, but I can choose what light that I want them to be seen in. I want to see Jesus - all the time. I look for him, and he will not hide from me. When I call His name, He will not ignore me.

Thank you, Lord, for opening my eyes. Thank you for the stuff that steamrolled me last week. I would not know You as well as I do now if it were not for that. I would not know the fullness of joy that could be felt when You enter into a situation and turn the lights on. I have seen You chase away darkness, and I will try to do a better job of telling others about what You can do. Please help me to know what to do and when to do it. I sometimes feel like a blind man feeling around in a dark closet for a light switch that I can't find. I too often focus on the negative and hopeless aspects of the lessons that You teach me. I should be spending time searching for the opportunities for You to show Yourself to me in greater ways. Thank you, Jesus, for being You.

The right choice makes good things feel even better.

The wrong choice makes you find the right choice.

The power of choice is tremendous when it is allowed to manifest fully.