14 Things I'm Thankful for in 2014

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" Psalm 107:1 ESV

There are countless things I could give thanks to but since it’s 2014 I’ll limit myself to 14. Here are the top 14 things I’m thankful for in no particular order.

1. Jesus – I’m thankful that God loved me so much that He adopted me and picked me to be called His child and sacrificed His own Son that I might live, made pure by His righteous blood.  

2. My family – You can read more about my family on my last blog post. They are the greatest earthly gift I’ve ever received. I love these people more than anything. I am so incredibly thankful for the crazy group of people I get to do life with.

Photo Credit: Fort Vanity

3. My Church- You can read more about why I’m thankful for Mars Hill here. In short, my life has been forever changed my Mars Hill and though this is the last Thanksgiving that my church will even exist, I’ll forever be thankful for the ways God changed my life.

4. My pastor – God has used Pastor Mark to change my life over the past two decades. I’m thankful for Pastor Mark’s dedication to Jesus, solid theology and preaching the Bible. I dearly love this man and I look forward to one day sitting under his leadership again. 

5. Disneyland – I love Disneyland! We take a family vacation there about every 18-24 months and it really is the happiest place on earth.

6. My job – I have my dream job. I look forward to going to work every single day. I get to work with a great group of people at a job that is all about exotic cars. Seriously, I’m the luckiest guy alive!

7. My freedom – I live in the greatest nation on earth. My freedom and the freedom of every American is guaranteed in writing by our government and supported by a pretty bad ass military.  

8. Teaching the Bible – I’ve had the honor and privilege of teaching the Bible to teenagers over the past few years and I’m incredibly thankful for that. I learn far more than I ever teach by working with this great group of students and I’ll forever be grateful for this season.

9. My friends – I have a great group of friends. Those closest to me are some of the best people I’ve ever met. I am incredibly undeserving of the people God has put in my life but I sure am thankful.

10. My biological family – We certainly aren’t the closest family in the world but we are also far from the worst. I am thankful that my mother, a single mom, raised me as best she could. I’m thankful for my aunt and uncle who have sacrificed much to try to give me a good life.

Photo courtesy of Renus and ElTora Cabe (Mu aunt and uncle)

11. Sports – This seems trivial but sports matter to me. I enjoy relaxing (or freaking out) over a good athletic competition. Good teams or bad, winning seasons or garbage seasons, it’s a good way to unplug from the real world for a while.

12. My Bible – I have access to the Word of God. Unlimited access, no restrictions, no one will arrest me for it, it’s just there. I love reading my Bible, learning new things from it, teaching from it, sharing the truths it contains, and sometimes just praying through it.

13. Food and clean water – I’m super thankful that I live in a country where I have access to any food I want as well as clean and safe drinking water. There are many in the world without these blessings. I also just enjoy food, I love trying new things, gathering with friends to eat, finding a new restaurant, tacos, bacon, cookie, and well…. I just really like food.

14. The Perrigo family – I wrote about them in my blog on family but they are worth another mention. There is no family on the family that means more to me than them. I’ve never met a family where I have been so incredibly fond of each and every member. My life is truly better for knowing them. 

Photo: Courtesy of Alyssa Perrigo

Thanking God for Mars Hill and Pastor Mark

With Thanksgiving approaching, I've been thinking a lot about what I’m most thankful for in life. I’m in fact working on writing a blog about thankfulness…. which I’ll probably never post but that’s ok. Heck, I’m typing this. and I don’t know if I’ll post it or just send it to a few close friends.

Psalm 95:2 tells us, “Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!” Luckily for you this is a blog and you don’t have to hear my dreadful singing you just get to read my thanksgiving.

There is one area of my life that I've given much thought lately and have wanted to write about but I just haven’t had the words, or maybe I've just had too many words and needed to sort them out. It’s hard to write about being thankful for something when you know many of your friends do not share your thankfulness and in some cases are even hurt by what you are thankful for. With that said, if you are one that was hurt by Mars Hill, please know that I do not mean to throw salt in your wounds but I do wish to publicly thank God for what He has done for me through Mars Hill and maybe even process some of my pain over Mars Hill’s demise.

I've spent almost 14 years of my life at Mars Hill. I've been trained, loved, disciple, rebuked, challenged, and blessed during these years. I've learned more about Scripture, ministry, community, family and most importantly Jesus than I even did in Bible College. Week after week I sat under the best Bible teaching I've ever heard. Pastor Mark brought the words of Scripture to life and ignited in me a fire, and a passion to search out more for myself.

It is under the leadership and preaching of Pastor Mark that I learned what it means to be a godly man, to be tough when defending my family and to be tender with my family. It was here that I first heard the concept of daddy dates, and spoiling my kids as long as they don’t act spoiled. I learned good doctrine, that Jesus loves His church, and that my deepest family is the family I find in the blood of Jesus. I've learned about worship, marriage, legacy, identity, and most of all, I've learned about Jesus. Every sermon I ever heard Pastor Mark preach was about Jesus. I love this church! I love Pastor Mark! Because of Mars Hill and because of Pastor Mark, I love Jesus more, I love my wife more, I love my kids more, I love God’s people more, I love non-Christians more. I’m thankful for this unfathomable blessing on my life.

This year has been a tough one for Mars Hill, one that will see our conclusion. I’m heartbroken about that fact. I've shed countless tears and spend many hours calling out to God in lament over what is a devastating loss to me. Yet, even in my grief my thankfulness for Mars Hill increases. It is here that I learned to suffer well and to share burdens with others.

Pastor Mark said, “Our identity is not in our joy, and our identity is not in our suffering. Our identity is in Christ, whether we have joy or are suffering.” He’s right! In this season of suffering and pain, my identity isn't in Mars Hill or Pastor Mark, it is in Christ.

Pastor Mark also said, “Any Christian who says he does not really need human friends because God is his friend is calling God a liar because He's the one who says we also need human friends.” Again, incredibly applicable to this season, now more than ever I need my friends. I’m experiencing the death of a church I love and I’m not experiencing it alone. With the help of dear friends, I am walking forward through the pain. When I came to Mars Hill I would never have relied on others but I've been well trained.

(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 ESV)

[9] Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. [10] For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! [11] Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? [12] And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

No person has had a greater impact on my life than Pastor Mark Driscoll. From the first time I heard him speak over twenty years ago to the last sermon he preached at Mars Hill, he’s been faithful to the Word of God. He’s been a great pastor to me and shepherded me well. Anytime I've run into him, he’s asked with genuine care and interest about my life, and listened and prayed for me. From the stage he’s been a theological powerhouse, from the halls of Mars Hill he’s increasingly been a fatherly figure.

Of course it hasn't all been good, I've seen failure, pride and other sins from Pastor Mark and my other leaders. I've also seen Pastor Mark lead in public repentance, in humility and in grace. I’ve seen him and other pastors and leaders (including myself) fail, repent, and then find a new area to do the same. I've learned that repentance is comprised not just of an apology but rather of confession, contrition and change and I've seen that acted out by many.

However the greatest gift I've received at Mars Hill isn't the teaching, the worship, the discipleship, or all the free books I've accumulated over the years, it’s the people. The people of Mars Hill, past and present are what I am most thankful for. It was here that God gave me a family. People my kids know as grandparents, aunts and uncles and even sisters. It was at Mars Hill that He made us family. The memories of Abigail, now 7 in nursery with Joyce Chester rocking her, Chaucer (4) rushing the stage to hug Batman (Cooper Robinson) during worship, Olivia (9) and her adoration for Pastor Travis Tuttle, Saphyre (14) and her deep friendship with youth leader Ashley Nedervelt, Tessa (3) running with pure excitement to greet Aly Perrigo, these are the memories I’ll hold most dear.

I thank God for the family I have because of Mars Hill. I’m going to miss what was but I’m forever grateful for what God did here and for the blessing of family that I get to take with me long after Mars Hill is gone. We have a six Sundays left as Mars Hill but I have a lifetime of family and fond memories. I owe much to Mars Hill and Pastor Mark, he’ll always be a father figure to me but the greatest debt I own is the one paid by Jesus and it was here that I finally came to understand that. Thank you, Jesus for 14 great years at Mars Hill!