Birthday Thanks to a Gracious God

Today I am 55 years old. That makes me eligible for SENIOR discounts at a fair number of restaurants and it gives me a number that "sounds" old enough for respect. But this day is not for celebrating what I might GET, but to GIVE thanks to my God for 55 linear years of mercy and grace in space and time.

I give HIM THANKS for my mom and dad who in love came together about 55 years and 9 months ago and from that union God allowed conception.

I give HIM THANKS for sparing me from death in the womb when a car hit my mom as she was carrying me and yet we were both spared from permanent harm.

I give HIM THANKS that my parents did not ABORT me because I was another mouth to feed and another whiny baby to absorb their waking moments and an added pressure on my dad to earn enough from his meager living to support us all.

I give HIM THANKS that my parents, though they did NOT go to church themselves, religiously took us to Sunday School year after year and providentially to a Sunday School where we could hear about Jesus.

I give HIM THANKS for a heart; the blood-pumping wonder machine, that has now beat in my chest approximately TWO and a THIRD BILLION times and shows no significant signs of wearing out.

I give HIM THANKS for giving me a sensitive heart and mind to sin and judgment and heaven and hell while still a boy.

I give HIM THANKS for drawing my oldest sister to Christ as the Jesus Movement of the 70's was waning. God used late night conversations about Christianity and the Bible and salvation to ready my heart for His irresistible call that came in late 1972.

I give HIM THANKS for an in-your-face gospel booklet entitled "Will the World End in 1972?" that was left on a small table in the back of the church where I was sitting one Sunday morning. I was so far back that only the termites were further away from the preaching that morning. I do not remember what Pastor Joiner was preaching, but I picked up the booklet and read and was absorbed by stories and Scriptures about Heaven and Hell and hard-hearted rejecters of the gospel. As I read I was becoming strangely HOT UNDER THE COLLAR, literally! I believe the biblical term is "conviction." It was not long before that conviction and those conversations with my sister and sermons I DID listen to and fears about death and the simple Word of God led, in God's mercy, to my conversion on Christmas Eve, 1972.

I give HIM THANKS for Mr Harold Davenport, who took me under his wing and made me his partner for hospital visits, always accompanied with opportunities to share the gospel and leave literature for folks to read (he was the fellow who had left the booklet on the table at church mentioned earlier).

I give HIM THANKS for people along the way who encouraged me in service to Christ and opened doors of opportunities for me to do so: Gilbert Page, Ricky James, Dean Shaffer, and many others.

I give HIM THANKS for churches I have served vocationally: South Norfolk Christian, Clear Lake Bible, Quail Valley Community, Piedmont Community, and Fellowship Bible Church. In each of these places there have been saints who put up with my sin and weaknesses and have encouraged me with assurances that my labor was not in vain in the Lord.

I give HIM THANKS for my life partner, my wife, who has been a means of grace in my life like no other human being. She, more than any other, knows me. She knows what is real and what is only words. She has weathered the storms and doldrums of marriage to a sinner saved by grace. She has loved me enough to admonish me for my sin and then to point me to a Savior who transforms sinners. I have experienced the highs and lows of life with my precious spouse...and it just keeps getting BETTER!

I give HIM THANKS for my daughters. To witness the miracle of a genuine human being moving from a watery cradle to the harsh lights and sounds and DRYNESS of extra-womb life is an evidence of the handiwork of the Almighty like no other. To be forced to learn what the cry of an infant means, to be on call 24/7, to have the weight of concern for the health and safety and soul of a little person is also a mighty means of grace. I have loved being a dad to girls. It has made me much more fully human and developed the image of One who created me in me. And I have loved parenting with my wife - a tag-team affair that has caused us to be on our knees both in repentance and in cries for wisdom and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

I give Him THANKS for HIMSELF! What a God is my Father. How faithful, how loving-kind, how forgiving, how wise. I am thankful for my Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for my sins, the Just for the unjust, to bring me to God. I am thankful for the Holy Spirit, who daily imparts the very life of Christ into my soul as enablement for all things.

I am, on this 55th birthday, THANKFUL to my God for all things.