THOUGHTS DURING THIS SEASON – FROM A GRATEFUL HEART: Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. But it is not a “day” to me. I stretch it out to four and a half days. Thanksgiving begins at noon on Wednesday on our calendar (we have switched our Thanksgiving meal to Wednesday afternoon & evening), and it continues until Sunday night when the Christmas tree goes up. This is the one holiday of the year that does not switch days of the week or is not on a Monday, so it is a predictable Thursday, with the delightful Friday, Saturday & Sunday to follow. I love that! Certain traditions reign supreme. The Christmas music comes on, and plays until January 2nd. The family times are rich. My personal, private reflective times are filled with gratitude. Here they are for Thanksgiving 2014: I am so thankful for GODLY PARENTS. My father & mother were totally consistent in their Christian lives. They were so loving. They were strict, but they insisted on the house being filled with fun and lots of laughter. They said “no” often – and they enforced it – but they said “yes” by creating fabulous alternatives. They knew that if they merely said “no,” we would rebel. But they were so good at planning fun alternatives to what the world had to offer that I never had an excuse to rebel. So I didn’t. Dad was authoritarian, but he was a loving one. And I thank God every day for the way he disciplined. And I have an announcement for the Child Protective Services: they spanked – lots! And I deserved every spanking! I got in trouble lots. Most often it was because I whispered to my cousin Richard during church services. I decided right then that I liked talking in church, so I became a preacher! You know why they spanked? Because they were “protecting” their child (children) from disaster! (NOTE: If you Child Protective Services were really about “protecting children,” you would teach parents how to view their children as wonderful gifts from God, how to fear (worship) God, and teach parents the right ways and times to spank – so that a child could be saved from his/her own rebellion! My dad was my best friend until his death in 1998. My mother is still (besides my wife) my closest friend. She is 93 and is so amazingly strong. She is savvy on how to live life – the right way. If we turned the US Government over to her for six months, she could put everything back in order. She is wise! And so loving! I am thankful for MY CHURCH. I grew up in a church that never had more than 70 persons in it, but it was spiritually vibrant and the people there lived lives of holiness and righteousness. I respected them, along with the wonderful people who pastored that small rural, Kansas church. In all the years of my life, I have only missed being in a house of worship (other than illness) perhaps five or six Sundays. Frankly, I cannot recall missing church (in my entire life) more than three times. I have no regrets about this. I don’t go out of tradition. I go to honor the Lord. I go to grow in him. (People who skip church services do so at their own destruction. Only someone with the “spirit of stupid” would intentionally skip/miss what God might say to them through weekly worship and teaching. I cannot make it without weekly worship services. I need them. I am thankful for MY EDUCATION. I speak first of the BIBLICAL EDUCATION that was established in my life by parents, Sunday School teachers, pastors and others who spoke into my life scriptural truths. I speak also of those who provided me with COMMON SENSE EDUCATION, things that I observed in simple people with solid life-values that caused me to know how to make proper decisions as I navigate life. I am so grateful I grew up with the plain heartland, rural values of a Norman-Rockwellian America. They made my life what it is today. Life is not rocket science. Right is right and wrong is wrong. I speak of FORMAL EDUCATION as well. Beginning in a one room, country grade school (with all eight grades in the same room), to high school, to college, through three masters degrees (Why did I get three masters? Because the Bible says “no man can have two masters.” So I got three!), to a Ph.D. degree, I am immensely grateful for teachers that inspired me and believed in me, many of whom I kept in contact with until their passing, or yet today if they are living. I have my personal “Hall of Fame” of teachers who shaped my life (beginning with Ethel Henthorn, my 5th & 6th grade teacher with whom I kept in contact until her death at approximately age 90). I am thankful for MARRIAGE. Second to salvation, it is God’s best idea. I am so thankful for the 42 fabulously blessed years with my late wife Carol. Life with her was great! When cancer left me without her, I experienced the greatest pain I have ever known. I actually said out loud “I have no hope!” And I didn’t. I am so thankful for my family and for friends who walked me through the horrific darkness of last year. I am so grateful to God that finally healing began to come. (I was later to learn what so many already know: you don’t get over it; you learn to move through it.) And I praise God I met Rosemary, the woman who is now my wife. I had never even heard of her – and then – all of a sudden, I discovered her. Where? On Facebook! And yes, I pursued her. (Some jokingly say I “stalked” her! They are right – LOL!) We enjoy a super spectacular marriage. I suspect that we are the happiest couple on earth. She is wonderful. One person wrote on my Facebook this amazing comment, “Many people never find love once, but you have found it twice.” I cannot put into words how unworthy I feel regarding being twice blessed. I thank God for marriage. I am thankful for MY CHILDREN. The four children came to me/us by way of adoption. I am immensely thankful for them! They bring me so much satisfaction and joy. Nothing else really matters that much. Being with them are the happiest times of my life. Words cannot express what they mean to me! I respect, admire and love them so so much! I am thankful for MY GRANDCHILDREN. They are so much fun. They are such a huge blessing! And loads of fun! Their smiles and “hi grandpa” are the most wonderful sights and sounds. One of my goals is to be with them more. I am thankful (due to my recent marriage) for MY NEW (STEP) CHILDREN AND (STEP) GRANDCHILDREN. But I do not use the “step” word with them, because I view them as mine. They have enriched my life. I am so proud of them. I love being called “dad” by them. I claim them as my own. I am so thankful for the privilege of LOCAL CHURCH MINISTRY. I have been ordained 40 years as of this year. I have served churches in Kansas, Kentucky (youth pastor), New Jersey (solo pastor), Oklahoma (associate pastor), Texas (founding senior pastor) and California (senior pastor). What a joyful ride it has been and continues to be. I am more in love with pastoring than I have ever been! I have been at Skyline Church for 19 years, and I am still excited at the very thought of being with the congregation each Sunday. On vacation Sundays, I don’t want to go elsewhere. I want to be with the Skyline Church family. And I am immensely grateful for the pastoral staff, the support staff and the church board. They bless me and bless me and bless me! I am so thankful for the privilege of MINISTRY in some national and international venues. I am unworthy of the doors of serving Christ that have opened to me. I am grateful beyond words. I am thankful for ETERNAL LIFE and for HEAVEN. This earth is good. But I am excited about “a new heaven and new earth.” My sister and brother – and those mentioned above – are already there. I love this life. But I eagerly await the next. And I am so thankful for MY FRIENDS. I am – in relationships – a “wealthy man!” I have had the joy of maintaining friendships with those from grade school all the way through graduate school. If you are reading this – to the very end (LOL) – you are likely one of those friends – or at least what we now call a “Facebook friend.” I praise God for all the rich relationships I enjoy! I am so grateful! So at the Garlow house, it is Thanksgiving…for 4 ½ days. The Christmas music is on. The annual event of “getting the boxes of Christmas decorations down from the attic” occurred last night. In the earliest days, it was my oldest children Janie & Josh who helped get the decorations down. Years passed. Then it was my youngest children Jake & Josie. More years passed. (Last year, due to pain of the loss of Carol, and of selling the “big house” and everything in it, to move to the “little house,” there was no Christmas tree and only one or two decorations.) Last night, the tradition of “getting the Christmas decorations from the attic” fell to the next generation, the grandsons that were here. It was a precious moment! A tree will be bought. Sunday night – right on schedule – it will be decorated. Thanksgiving 2014 will officially end at midnight Sunday night. But with the official end of Thanksgiving will come the official beginning of Christmas which, at our house, extends until January 2nd! And I will sit in the living room – late at night – each night - with Christmas music softly playing – looking at the lights of the Christmas tree – and I will keep saying to myself “life is good.”
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 00:16:18 +0000
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