So Thankful…

So, I know it’s not common to start a new paragraph with the word “SO”, however, I thought that it should be done so thats what I did. So, as I went for a walk this morning with my wife I thought that today would be a great day to make a blog post, a post very much overdue. So, here I am writing this post not out of regret for not writing in a long time, but rather, writing out of a thankful heart. That’s what I want to focus on today, the things that I am thankful for. I could just make a list of the things, but that lacks meaning and I can imagine myself getting bored reading someone else’s list of the things they are thankful for… So to infuse more meaning into this post I want to explain why I am thankful for these things.

1. My Wife, Megan. I’m so thankful for her. Her personality is an artful conception, there is such meaning and beauty in her just being herself. The other day she told me she sees and hears things in colors and shapes. It’s as if she sees the world in a painted form that she sometimes gives me a little glimpse into. She is funny and doesn’t hesitate to remind me so. She is crafty and artistic. She is beautiful and thoughtful. We have been married a few months over a year now and it’s been just a small sample of what forever together is going to be like. I’m thankful I get to spend forever with her.

2. Family, I don’t live near my family right now and, well, somedays that sucks. But really I am thankful everyday for them. For the memories we made growing up and our relationships. Having four sisters was interesting to say the least but I wouldn’t trade any of them for a brother. Love was aways in the house and the house was always packed… Not literally, but my family – even though they can drive me nuts – always has shown me love, even when I move far away and I’m not around much. I’m thankful that family is family no matter how far away.

3. Laughter, I really enjoy laughing. I think this probably comes from growing up in a full house and always having something or someone to laugh at, or with. Laughter is an overflow of Joy. If life doesn’t seem to to have any joy just find something that’s funny! Laugh a little. There was one week this year that I laughed harder than I had in a long time, I was laughing so hard I cried. It feels so good to laugh. Also, I will never look at scrambled eggs again without laughing… But that’s a different story for another day… ,Abe.

4. Experiences. So thats kind of a broad thing to be thankful for, but thats what I am thankful for. Experiences. This summer, Megan and I got to go out to Oregon to a friends wedding. It was my first time ever going to Oregon and it was amazing looking out and seeing the mountains rise out of the desert-like land of central Oregon. We stayed in a house with the other members of the wedding party and had a blast getting to know new people. It’s always a blessing getting to celebrate a new chapter in our friends lives. Megan and I also got to travel to Haiti this fall and be a part of a medical missions team there. It was an eye-opening experience and hard to put into words. There was so much we learned and saw on that trip. I am thankful that God has given us opportunities to serve everywhere we go.

5. Challenges, I’m thankful for all the challenges that have come with being a youth pastor, with learning to be a husband, with living in a state that is not my home, and navigating the adventure of life. These challenges haven’t always been fun or easy, but they are shaping me and the more I stop and think about life, the more I am thankful for them.

6. Interruptions. Let me explain. Yesterday, my friend Thomas came and spoke at our contemporary service and one point he made was about how God wants to interrupt our routine, our cycle of how we do our lives. Thomas explained how Jesus was a beautiful interruption. Jesus wasn’t the Messiah that the Jewish leaders were expecting. He wasn’t a normal Rabbi either. He was an interruption, God’s divine interruption. I’m thankful for Jesus interrupting my life. For knocking me out of my routine.

My hope this Thanksgiving is that we can let Jesus be that beautiful interruption in our routine. That in the midst of the turkey, too much food and football we might stop and really be thankful. Not just a passing quick ‘thanks’ either. A real genuine, “SO, let me tell you why I am thankful.”

Day 49 “A Year of Thoughts”: Lock-In, Laughter, and Lots of Fun!

 

Today we had a youth event where we went ice skating in Wichita. That was a lot of fun, and we only got in trouble a few times from Adam the former youth leader accidentally skating into kids and the group trying to do the running man. After we returned from Wichita we started the lock-in. As a student I always loved lock-ins, as an adult lock-ins sound like a great idea until you remember the lack of sleep part. Even with little sleep the day was full of laughter and lots of fun.

 

-Caleb Ross Hunter

 

P.S. I was super tired and worn out when I wrote this but the weekend event was a success.

Day 40 “A Year of Thoughts”: For Fun

 

When your having fun life is really enjoyable. Tonight I went and played indoor soccer. It’s been a while since I have played but it felt really good to go and kick around a soccer ball. It really didn’t matter who won or how many goals were scored. It was all for fun. I really believe life was meant to be enjoyed, meant to have a little fun and lots of laughter.

 

Sometimes for fun I just like to laugh.

 

To relax a little and take in the moment.

 

While in chapel today the speaker was talking about how as a Chaplin of a prison there are many people that have lost all joy and hope, inmates kill themselves because they don’t believe when or if they get out that they will be able to enjoy life. I’ve never been in prison and I hope not to be, but I have been in places in my life where there seemed to be no joy and no hope. My sin was deeper than I could see and thicker than prison bars. BUT GOD, he has restored my joy, he has given me hope for a future, and he has been walking with me, or is it I with him? For fun stop and think about the joys, find hope in that fact that you have life. For fun laugh and enjoy each moment.

 

-Caleb Ross Hunter