THANKFUL

Today is Thanksgiving Day. A day to be with family & friends. A day to give thanks for the many blessings we enjoy as free Americans. I really wish we would recognize everyday as Thanksgiving Day, but today is the day set aside by our Government to stop what you are doing and take the time to recognize and enjoy the abundance of blessings.So I too, even in Iraq, will stop to consider all I have to be grateful for.

I am thankful for family. I am not with my natural family today and those of you reading this know that. I miss them terribly and wish to God I could be with them, but I cannot and they know and understand that. Nancy, Evan & Emily I love you all very much. I am however, with my adopted family, the United States Army. As Christians we understand the meaning & importance of adoption. We were orphaned to this world, but loved by a great God who pursued us and adopted us in to His own. Here, I could easily be lost, alone and hungry for companionship, but not so. My adopted family has taken me in as one of their own and I have come to realize the significance of belonging to the "Band of Brothers". Here they take care of one another. They make sure you are included, and well fed I might add. They genuinely care for you and want you to feel as if you belong to their family. With this comes a significant sense of duty. This, perhaps, is the core reason they are willing to lay down their lives for one another. They know how to love, they know how to live.

I am thankful for traditions.Today was the ceremonial Combat Patch Award Day. A day when every soldier who wears the uniform is presented with their brigades combat patch. They earned it the day they set foot in the theater of war. These brave men & women receive a patch from their commanders that tell the world that they are combat veterans. Again, my family did not forget me. I too received my combat patch.
I am thankful for the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner that our military cooks made so well. If you are eating it at home today, the chances are we are eating it here as well. We even have something most of you back home don't. We have a real turkey (Iraqi Turkey) in a cage just outside the mess hall. Don't worry, he received a Commander's pardon.

I am thankful for my Country. I am thankful to be able to wake up as a citizen of the greatest country on earth and enjoy my freedom, liberty and ability to worship freely without the threat of persecution. I am blessed! Who would have thought that a small group of pilgrims on three relatively small ships would have endured so much, with so little, in the pursuit of freedom and evolve in to the greatest Nation in the world?
Against all odds we survived and prospered with only one explanation. We were blessed as a Nation from our humble beginnings by a God that loved us and desired for us to be free to worship Him.

I am thankful for all the men & women of our Armed Forces. The country and the freedom we enjoy was certainly not free. It has come at a huge cost. Many American lives have been lost over the years to maintain Her and to leave Her for others to enjoy. Men & women willing to lay down their lives for you and for me. Wow, that kind of reminds you of Christ's love for us. He willingly took the punishment of the world and died on the cross that we may live. So what does God say about the kind of love demonstrated by our military? "This ia how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."
He also says there is no greater love. That is strong, Army strong ( I may be somewhat biased, but that does add a nice touch, doesn't it?)

So today as you celebrate with friends and family, as you eat way too much and over indulge in the NFL, take just a moment to thank God for everything you have been given, for family and friends, for the men & women who are full of love and willingness to sacrifice, and most of all for a God that loves us so much He sent His son to die for our sins.
Today is a day to be thankful!