Alright. The semester is wrapping down. I just had my last official class tonight (Although I am taking a modular next week) and I will have papers soon to turn in. I think I did very well on my final tonight and I was quite pleased to call home and tell my folks about it. This time though recently has made me really come to appreciate many things in life. I just wanted to sit down and say some things I’m thankful for.
The recent readership in my blog increasing brings me much joy. It’s good to know that one’s thoughts are appreciated and the back and forth exchange over ideas is quite pleasing. Even though there is disagreement, I do enjoy the exchange. I enjoy being on the opposite end of the atheistic spectrum and facing it head-on. It’s also helped me see many of my friends and I’m pleased with how many of them argue well.
Let’s talk about them. I see many of the younger generation on here and I’m thankful for young minds devoted to the Christian faith. It shows me that there is hope for the upcoming generation. Tom Brokaw once wrote of the Greatest Generation. I think he had it wrong. If things continue this way, this generation of apologists growing up could be the greatest.
I’m thankful for the other ministries that have given me a chance. I think especially of Tektonics and TheologyWeb. There are also others though like Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Stand To Reason, For An Answer, and I remember speaking in the past at times on the Narrow Mind program that’s hosted by Gene Cook.
I’m thankful for my Seminary in that the president already has me in his good favor and I’m pleased I can consider him a friend. I’m honored by the way other students treat me and quite humbled and enjoy being around them and having the exchange of ideas. I’m pleased that I’m studying under the people I have long considered my heroes.
I’m also thankful then for the new friends I’ve made here. I’m not really keen on the social scene, but I’ve managed to fit in just fine. I have several friends from all over the spectrum of the student body and I have friends at my workplace as well. I don’t really like my job, but I am thankful that I do have some source of income.
I’m thankful for my roommate who has become such a dear friend of mine through thick and thin and one I would do anything to help out. He and I have had some great adventures since we’ve come here and we’ve had our confrontations with those outside the faith. In doing so, we’ve found we make an excellent team in person. I’m thankful for a true friend like him.
I’m thankful that my family raised me in such a way that I respect morality and have a belief in God and saw church as an integral part of my life. Though we are far away now physically, they did raise me so that now I am handling it. My family wasn’t perfect by any means and we had our squabbles, but overall, I am pleased with how they did.
I am thankful for the financial blessings I’ve had. Though I am a student, the money seems to be coming in somehow. We are getting set here to spend a day to drive to the beach and relax after this semester. My roommate and I took our tax refunds also and each of us used part of that money to buy a Wii and we’ve been thoroughly enjoying that.
That brings me to my books. I’m incredibly thankful for them and it seems I do have more money for books than I realize. I take great joy in showing visitors the library I’ve amassed and I take it as humility that God has enabled a guy like me to come from small origins and be allowed to have this kind of impact and be blessed materially, although my family is by no means rich. (Pray for them. They’re in quite bad financial straits now which is effecting everything else.)
I’m thankful God gave me a mind also and I’ve been allowed to sharpen it here. I am not athletic in any way and I am not a social being, but I am thankful that I do have intelligence. It is a gift from God and to quote Spider-Man as well, it is to be used for the good of mankind. I’m thankful for the exchange of ideas and the forums I have to do that in.
I’m also thankful, of course, for God revealing himself in Christ. It is because of him that I can eternally enjoy the good things and spend eternity in the presence of God. The thought of Heaven is mind-blowing to me and I look forward to it whenever I think about it. I have gone through a lot in my few years thus far, and I am thankful there is a place where even my sufferings will be redeemed for the greater good.
That’s my list, and much more could be added I’m sure, but I find it important from time to time to mention things like this that put life in perspective.
How about you?
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