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Some weeks dictate the nature of a column. Such is the case with Thanksgiving week. Here are some of the things for which I am thankful.

            I’m thankful for the opportunity to have this space in the Bainbridge Post-Searchlight. It’s also very gratifying when I’m out and about the town and someone says how much they enjoy reading my column. I enjoy writing and your words are encouraging and never taken for granted. Thank you.

            Thanksgiving week, itself, is such a blessing. It’s one of those few times during the year when most families get together and that’s always a good thing. We gather around a table on Thursday for, perhaps, the best meal of the year.

            One of my favorite dishes of all time, cornbread dressing, is included along with turkey, ham, greens of some kind, peas, mashed potatoes and I could go on and on, but you get the point. And don’t forget the desserts. Donna Sue is making a banana pudding this year and that will be worth the trip over to momma’s house on Thursday.

            I’m responsible for the greens and I’m thankful for my Mitchell County friend who has a patch that includes mustard, turnips, collards, and rutabagas. A conundrum is just a $.50 cent word for problem and I have a problem choosing just which of those greens I’m going to get. I could solve the problem by getting a little bit of all!

            Not everyone is as big a college football fan as I am, but I’m thankful for Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs. Kirby, as you all know, is a son of Bainbridge having grown up here and played his high school football here. He also might be the best college football coach in the land, with all due respect for his mentor Nick Saban.

            I’m thankful that Coach Smart never accepts anything but the best effort from his team and the Dawgs have been the best of the litter, so to speak, for the last two years and maybe heading for a three-peat. In today’s complicated landscape of college football, that’s a degree of excellence to which we should all marvel.

            Even though there is plenty about which we could complain, I’m thankful to have been born in the United States of America. Despite our challenges, which are very real, the chances of me moving to another country are slim to none and slim has left the building.

            I’m thankful for the Bible and like the verse in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you…”

We can all be thankful that God so loved us that He sent to us His only Son that all of us who will believe in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

            I’m glad God chose me (He chose you, too) and that I was born into a family that was a part of His world and we were faithful to attend a little country church where I learned all about God’s love. I recently was invited back to that little country church to preach at their 75^th anniversary. I’m thankful that they asked me and, when I returned, I saw the sons and daughters of the families that had made up the congregation of that church.

            It’s good to have such a solid foundation in life and I certainly haven’t made the most of it. But, God has blessed me with a good family, good friends, and good health. It’s humbling to think that I have had so much and am no more deserving of all that than anyone. I guess I could sum it all up with a great thanksgiving for the grace of God!