A Thanksgiving Message

Show me your ways, O Lord,
     teach me your paths;
guide me in your truth and teach me,
     for you are God and my Savior,
     and my hope is in you all day long. ~ Psalms 25:4-6

I have spent the last year preparing my mind, body and spirit for what lies ahead in the coming months.  A gentle rain has been falling from the Heavens.  Each rain drop represents an important individual.  On this Thanksgiving day, I would like to extend my thanks to those precious people in my life who have played an important role in my journey.


My memoir, "God's Black Sheep Squadron," would not have been possible without the main character, my father.  The book is centered on his final thirty five days on earth.  My family would not have experienced this amazing reunion had my father remained in Mexico.  Perhaps it was something he read in the Bible his sister, Helen, gave him that inspired him to return?  Maybe the missionaries that were part of his life in a foreign country persuaded him to come home?  Could it have been his loving wife he affectionately nicknamed, Molly, who put a bug in his ear to pay us a final visit?  May her soul rest in peace.

I picture my dad reading his Bible while he was living apart from us in quiet retirement.  He was a deep thinker.  His connection to Jesus was established at the most critical time in his life.  I am thankful for the time he shared with us.  He was sharing his life lessons with us right up until his last day here.  For those people who played a role in getting him home, I am deeply thankful.

To my uncle Harry and aunt Helen, thank you for sending my dad a Bible.  He read it often.  I also thank you for the NIV Study Bible you sent me earlier this year.  It helps me understand how much God loves us.  Learning all the background information helps me understand the time periods the individuals lived in and what they were thinking.  It could take three lifetimes to scratch the surface and I will learn as much as I can by studying daily.  I also promise to share all I learn with others.  Many know about Him but few know Him.  I know Him and am inspired to learn more about Him in order to better share my faith with those seeking Him.

At the beginning of this year, I prayed that God would send me all the people necessary to publish a book.  For someone who's writing skills have been limited to penning love letters to my wife and who has no formal training in writing, I knew that writing a book for me was exactly like moving a mountain.  I do believe that, with faith, this is possible.  All the people that have "fallen out of the sky" this year are an answer to my prayer and that mountain is moving.

In the opening credits of my book, there will be an entire page dedicated to those I am thankful for.  If you are one of the rain drops that God sent to bring new life, I thank God for bringing us together.  I thank you for your willingness to accompany me and share your life with me.  Psalm 25, composed by king David is a plea for guidance.  You, my friend, are part of the answer to that prayer.  Thank you for helping me to find my way.  HAPPY THANKSGIVING.