I'm Blessed

So, today would be my birthday...  

I've been down this road before...about 43 times in the past 43 years.  It's odd how this day seems to come around every year, isn't it?  

I don't have any problems with having a birthday...no problems whatsoever.  I actually enjoy them.  The process of getting older doesn't make me sad, I don't concern myself with the stigma that many seem to place on aging, and I am thrilled to be alive and well on September 18, 2015.  I've been doing this now since September 18, 1972...and so far, I'm pretty pleased.  It is not my intention to stop anytime soon.

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I have a wonderful life.  I am incredibly blessed to have two very healthy, very wonderful, and very loving parents that I absolutely adore.  They bring more joy into my life than they could ever possibly know, and they are simply the manifestation of the many blessings in my life that I do not deserve.  I love them dearly, and I'm proud and humbled to be their son.  

I have wonderful friends.  I'm certainly blessed to be associated with the people that God has placed into my life.  These wonderful people have been a joy to me, and I am quite certain that they will never know how much I appreciate them.  Many of these people have been involved in my ministry over the years...they've sang with me, or played in the band at my churches, they've traveled with me, they've lugged sound equipment, luggage and furniture from place to place as God has moved me.  These people have made me laugh and cry.  They have prayed with me and for me.  They have been consistent, dependable, and they are loved.

I have a wonderful church.  Currently, and I hope for some time to come, I am the Worship, Discipleship and Missions Pastor of Rainsville First Baptist Church in North Alabama.  This is a great church, and it is filled with wonderful people.  I'm blessed to have been led here by God, and I'm excited about what God has in store for this church in the future.  So, I have a loving family, great friends, a beautiful home, food, clothing, health...I'm certainly blessed beyond measure.

With every passing year, and every birthday, I find myself unconcerned with my age or the celebration of my life, but I find myself fixated on the blessings that I live in and around daily.  I'm amazed at the road my life has traveled thus far, and I'm humbled to know that I don't really deserve much, but I have much more than enough.  I have been blessed to go places and see many things that some will only dream about.  I'm blessed to be doing something with my life that I am passionate about, and I'm excited about the future.  

I'm also blessed with a life that is lived under the grace provided me through the purposeful sacrifice and ever-powerful blood of Jesus, my extraordinary Savior.  He has not just given me another birthday, but He has provided a hope for tomorrow...hope for eternity.  Without Him, my life, regardless of any success, would be a life of worthlessness.  I'm humbled that He chose to save me so that I would have the distinct honor to serve Him.  To the author of my life and the determiner of my days, and the Savior of my soul, I give the highest praise.  

Today, I turned another year older.  I'm thankful for the years that have already passed and the wonderful memories that I have made.  I'm beyond optimistic about the future, because I know the One who holds that future.  If you're reading this, I would like to thank you for sharing a moment of your day with me as I celebrate the passing of another year of life and the beginning of a new day...a day of hope, promise, and a day of the celebration of life itself.  God is good, and the best is yet to come.