I hope each of you had a great Thanksgivng Day. We certainly did. We went to Mom and Dad’s house for turkey, ham, dressing, and all the other good stuff that will make you fat and me fatter! Today, we are taking the wife’s parents to Spartanburg, SC to Mutt’s BBQ for dinner. Should be some excellent munchables. Tomorrow, we are taking about 40 youth and adults from the church to Pigeon Forge, TN to Dixie Stampede (YeeHaa!) for the Christmas show and dinner. Lots of running, lots of eating and lots of good times. It doesn’t get much better than that!

I suppose I could try and list all the things I am thankful for, but it would take a long time. Let me give you the top ten list.

God and all that comes from Him – Grace, salvation, the Word, hope, peace, forgiveness, joy, a future, you get the idea.

1. My Wife Joan – 28 years together and she is still the love of my life. It doesn’t get any better than that!
2. My Children – Nikki and Jesse have always been the joy and rejoicing of my heart. Their spouses, Chad and Amy are like my own children. I love you guys and I am proud of you all.
3. Clayton – My first grandchild and he sure is grand. Every time a see him and he smiles at me or reaches for his Papa, my heart swells with joy.
4. My Parents – I love you Mom and Dad. Thanks for supporting me and loving me.
5. My Brother – I don’t get to see Don too often, but I love him and pray for him and his wife Liz everyday.
6. My Ministry – I get to go places and see God do things I would have never imagined. I praise Him for every open door in my life.
7. My Church – Calvary is a special place. The Lord meets with us there and our people are simply the greatest.
8. My Friends – Thank God for the people He has placed in my life.
9. My Material Blessings – It may sound selfish, but I thank God for the things He has given me. He has blessed me beyond belief. I have a home, a car, food to eat, clothes to wear, and more things than I need to make life good.
10. My Health and Mind – I am overweight, but otherwise healthy. That is saying a lot. My mind, well, all in all, it’s not too bad!

Those are just a few of the more precious things in my life. How about sharing some of the things you thank God for.

Have a great holiday season.

Alan

I received an E-mail yesterday from a reader who wanted to now whether or not I, the preacher, was dead. I am happy to report that the rumors of my demise are all wrong. I am still here, I just haven’t been posting lately. The main reason is that I have had nothing worthwhile to say it seems. Blogging is a strange activity. Some people are content to post links to what others have said. Others seem to do a lot of copy and paste work in what they call their blog. Me, I would rather ramble on about nothing in general. Sometimes I have written about the things I am doing and the places I visit. other times, I say a word or two about preaching. Lately, I haven’t had much to say and less time to say it. I suppose that my energies have been so focused on the meetings I have been preaching, the needs of my family, the constant duties of the church and the recent sickneses and deaths of some precious people in our church. In other words, my mind has been elsewhere it seems.

So, this week i am preaching at Brown Mountain Baptist Church, which is located above Morganton, NC. The Pastor is Johnny Shelton. The first two nights of our meeting have been very good indeed. The Lord has given great liberty to preach His Word and the people have responded well during the invitation. In fact, every person in the church was in the altar on Monday and all but three or four were last night. I am anticipating a good service this evening as well.

So, thanks for checking up on me, and thank you to the reader who was concerned about my passing. I do desire your prayers and I do appreciate you visiting our humble web site. Tale care!

Alan Carr