Eucharisteo

One early theme in Ann Voskamp's book “One Thousand Gifts” is that of thanksgiving (in tandem with joy and grace). So I dutifully sit down to look for all the positive things in my life, and as I suspected, I find very many. To list them helps me to see just how many there are. I would encourage you to do likewise.

So let's start with the obvious causes for thanks, such as life, health, family members, and most importantly of all, the knowledge of the God who created me. If I'm not thankful for that, then I'm not
sure my life really has any foundation at all.

I'm also thankful for the gift of music God programmed into me. Without that gift, it's true to say that many of the places I have been, people I have met, and things I have been able to do, would not have existed. In fact the argument could easily be made that without my musical giftings, NONE of what I have done could have happened. No exaggeration.

I'm thankful for my primary (elementary) school, where I had my happiest school times of all, away from the crushing weight of expectation, and a competitive, achievement-based educational system. I'm thankful for cello lessons, without which I would not nearly so easily have been able to make the switch to the electric bass, which has unlocked so much in my life.

I'm thankful to God for saving me from what nearly turned out to be a disastrous decision at university (If you are unaware of what I'm referring to, do contact me and I'll fill you in. No space for the full story here).

I'm thankful for the musical people I met early in my career as a musician. Short periods spent in various bands, but all vital when you start to pull everything together.

I'm even thankful I failed my Year 3 teaching Practice at University, and that I decided not to re-take it. Had I decided to carry on my teaching training, I undoubtedly would not have ended up travelling the world and having the musical/broadcasting career I have thus far enjoyed.

I'm thankful for my time in India with the Oasis Trust, a time when I discovered more about myself than I would ever have thought possible. I'm thankful for the chance to join itinerant bands with YFC and Saltmine, both of which broadened my horizons in multiple ways, introduced me to new and lifelong friends, and in the case of Saltmine, showed me that despite my doubts, I was apparently capable of being a leader of a team, however uncomfortable I might have felt doing it.

I'm thankful for the chance to tour the North West UK with the Luis Palau praise band, which opened the doorway to my visiting and eventually living and working in the United States, something I really could never have forseen a few years earlier.

I'm thankful for the selfless foresight of those at United Christian Broadcasters in the UK for allowing and encouraging me to follow my dreams to the U.S.A. In the full knowledge that in helping me do so, they risked ultimately losing me. That is selfless faith.

I'm thankful for my time in the U.S.A. Something I am still processing. I'm thankful for the friends I made there, and for the church I was able to plug into. I am also thankful (said between gritted teeth for now) that God brought me home when he did. The reason for this is still unclear, but sometimes there are things that we are just not meant to know, and in truth, we really have no right to know anyway.

We have no rights...period.

Of course there are regrets too. There always will be. For me, regrets that I was never able to find the partner to travel through life with, and that I was never to be a father – something I desperately longed for. Once again, I have no right to ask why, and there is nothing I can do about that. The regrets remain however. There are others, but when there is so much to be thankful for – and what is above is but a brief fraction – what right do I have to be anything but grateful?

It's a while since I have sat down and listed the things for which I am thankful, but I do recommend it, no matter where you are on your walk with God.

A bit of perspective is no bad thing.