Thanksgiving Eve

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You know, we're doing this because we want our Thanksgivings to be better.

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We want them to be different.

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We don't just want the same old, same old and gorge on Turkey

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and have tryptophan overload and all the rest the stuff.

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We want to connect with God.

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So we're giving you real things you can do to start new traditions.

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Well, hey, my name is Brian Tome.

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It's great to be with you today here at my house.

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And I've got some friends, family members, and colleagues around the table

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that we'll be talking with them in a little bit.

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We're doing something a little different.

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Well, it's different for me.

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It may be very different for you.

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It's called Thanksgiving Eve.

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You might be saying, "Thanksgiving Eve?

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What is Thanksgiving Eve?

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I've heard of Christmas.

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I've heard of Christmas Eve. Why Thanksgiving Eve?"

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Well, we invented it here at Crossroads.

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Yes, we actually -- someone else might have been doing it for a while.

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But we have been doing this at Crossroads for many, many, many, many years.

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Thanksgiving is really probably my favorite holiday.

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Of all the holidays, it's one holiday that hasn't been commercialized.

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And it's one holiday that has deep, intensive roots.

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So why not just celebrate Thanksgiving when we can also celebrate Thanksgiving Eve?

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And we're going to do something right now

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that I think is going to be helpful to you, helpful to all of us.

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And even if you're just watching right now,

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if you do this tomorrow on Thanksgiving or New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve,

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I promise you you're going to have a more meaningful holiday than you normally do.

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So let me give us a scripture.

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The scripture is 1 Thessalonians 1:2.

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It says this:.

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We give thanks to God always for all of you constantly mentioning you in our prayers.

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We give thanks to God.

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They give thanks.

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Well, why isn't it like we think thanks, we meditate thanks,

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we philosophize thanks, we have thanks?

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Give thanks.

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To give something is assuming there is an object or an entity who is to receive it.

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That's what Thanksgiving is.

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We are giving thanks to the One who is worthy of receiving thanks, and that's God.

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And we're going to try to remember today the things

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that God has done in our life over the last year.

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And we're going to celebrate that and we're going to thank God for it.

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We're going to thank each other for it.

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And in the midst of it,

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we're going to have something that's going to actually overflow.

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We've been doing this in my family for, gosh, probably 20 years.

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It centers around this vase right here.

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This vase is a family keepsake.

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It says engraved on this Waterford crystal,

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"Only in America. Gee, aren't we lucky?".

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Gee, aren't we lucky, that's how an old friend of mine used to talk.

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Not quite that dorky.

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It's has the initials CHL, which is Carl Henry Lindner.

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Carl Lindner was the, I don't know,

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just a very wealthy philanthropist in Cincinnati.

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He owned the Cincinnati Reds.

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A primary shareholder in Great American Financial

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and Chiquita Banana, and a whole bunch of other things.

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And I got the blessing to go to his 80th birthday party.

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I'm not sure exactly how I did, but I got to go to his 80th birthday party.

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And Carl is like the only guy when someone comes to his birthday party,

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he gives them gifts.

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So he gave all the guys cufflinks and all the ladies this vase.

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"Only in America.

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Gee, aren't we lucky?"

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I know his sons would oftentimes talk to him and say,

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"Dad, we're not lucky, we're blessed.

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We're blessed. We didn't just hit the lotto.

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God has been smiling on us.

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He's blessing us.

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It's something to give thanks to God for."

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So what we've done is we've taken this vase

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and we put it in the center of our table.

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And we go round and as we give thanks

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we take a little water and we pour it in.

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And most the time we have little itty bitty teacups

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that trace way back to Lib's grandmother and we do those.

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But it's going to be a lot cleaner for us right now to just use water like this.

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And this also is tied into something in the scripture.

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It comes from the Book of Psalms 23:5.

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King David says: You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

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You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows.

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I've been around this table, we've got a lot of things to give thanks for.

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I'll bet around this table we have a lot of things that are overflowing.

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Not all of us have overflowing friends

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or overflowing finances or overflowing health.

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But all of us have been blessed by God.

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All of us have received things from God.

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And we want to say thank you to Him.

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Right now we want to give thanks to Him.

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So before we go any further,

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why don't we just give thanks to God right now in prayer, OK?

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God, I am amazed at the number of things that You have blessed me with,

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the number of things You blessed us with,

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the number of things You've given,

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and the number of --

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the amount of protection that You've given me

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and probably everyone around this table.

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I pray that all of us who are here, all of us who are streaming,

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all of us who are engaged right now,

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You would hear from us that we're thankful.

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We want to give You our thanks.

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We want You to be encouraged and You to be blessed

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by us articulating how good You are

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in specific ways this Thanksgiving Eve.

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Amen.

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Well, I'm going to start here.

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Actually, we have all staff members around the table.

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So I'm going to start with this.

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I'm going to say, one of the things I'm really thankful for

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are the incredible, incredible people that God helps me work with,

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that God enables me to work with.

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I'm thankful for Ali cat over there, who's, man, you hit a whole new gear.

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All new gear in terms of teaching this last year.

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Thank you for Malcolm, also known as X.

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Thanks for X and the amazing job you're doing at Florence.

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I'm so thankful for A-A-Ron, also known as Aaron,

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who does a lot of our digitizing and music behind the scenes.

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Robbie Reider who does all of our music stuff.

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Latasha who does our H.R.

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I mean each one of you guys, I probably should do my own thing,

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but I just wanted a blanket to say I'm just so thankful for all of you.

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I'm a blessed man to be able to be with you.

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I give thanks for you, to you.

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- So I'm next.

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So I -- this year, I'm really thankful.

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My husband, Nick and I are expecting our second child in April,

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which is great.

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But I know that there are just --

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there's so many families who struggle to get pregnant.

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And so I am just really thankful that that was not an issue for us with this baby.

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And at the same time, I have two sister-in-laws

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that are also due within a week of me.

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And so I'm just excited for my kids to grow up with cousins

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and to be blessed with another healthy pregnancy.

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- That was good.

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- I'm Ali and I'm a teaching pastor at Crossroads.

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And I give thanks to God this year specifically

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for the opportunity to be in school.

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I'll actually be finishing soon and I'm excited about that too,

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the opportunity to get out of school.

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But I don't -- I'm not thankful for the knowledge,

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though I think that will serve me in some ways.

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I'm thankful that I know Him better.

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I feel like as a result of being in school,

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because He knows me and He knows how I'm going to meet Him.

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And He knows how I'm gonna get to know Him,

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that this process of being in school for me

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has been like a long process of getting to know Him better.

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And I am so grateful for that.

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I'm so grateful that He knows me well enough to put me in a situation

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where that's going to be the result, even if at school in my 40s.

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So I'm incredibly thankful for a God who knows me

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and who just lined up all the circumstances in my life

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to make that possible for the last couple of years.

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So.

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- That's great.

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- My name is Malcolm Henderson, Community Pastor at Florence.

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And as of six hours ago, other than car payments,

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my wife Erin and I are completely debt free.

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- Yeah, so we closed on a house a couple weeks ago.

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And because of the check that they cut,

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we were able to pay off all student loans, all credit card debot.

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And God has just completely turned around our finances.

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So, that's amazing.

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- How did you do that? Any key things you did differently?

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- My wife's very handy, so she completely renovated the house we lived in.

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So literally first day on the market, first showing,

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a full price offer.

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God just showed us so much favor through the process.

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So.

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- That's amazing.

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- I'm Aaron. I'm on our music team at Crossroads.

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I get to work with this guy, which is a lot of fun.

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And one of the things I'm really, really thankful for this year

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is my son was born in February.

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His name's Anson.

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One of the reasons I'm thankful, it's our first son.

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So we have two girls and a boy now.

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But more than that, I'm thankful just because I'm reminded of God's faithfulness.

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Our oldest, Juliet, was born.

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We didn't have any issues having her.

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And then after that, we actually lost two kids.

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And the doctors -- it was terrible surgery,

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like an emergency surgery for my wife.

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She lost one of her tubes.

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And the doctors told us that

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we probably weren't going to be able to have kids again.

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But we were believing for more and really just knew that --

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We believed that God was going to give us more kids.

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So we've had two more since then.

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We think He's going to give us even more than that.

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So it's just -- just 100% God's faithfulness.

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And I believe each one of these kids is a miracle.

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So.

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- Fantastic.

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- Yeah.

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- So, are you done?

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- No.

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He wants more.

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- More.

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- More.

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- This is -- this little nerdy.

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So can I get a little nerdy?

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- You are are a little nerdy, so just be yourself.

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- With your glasses you fit right in.

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- Yeah. You haven't pushed there.

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- There we go.

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No, so you all know I have I have type 1 diabetes.

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And it's just -- I limp with that all the time.

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That's my --

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And it's -- if you're going to have a chronic illness, it's the one to get.

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So let me just phrase it like that.

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But the technology behind it makes my life so rich.

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So like right now I wear these medical devices

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and you can't even see them.

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But I wear them and they make me more aware and healthier.

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So while I -- So now I can --

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So, I've got one here on my arm.

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I've got one on my belly.

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But I can look at my watch and it will tell me what my blood sugar is.

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And it alerts me if it's high or low and it tells my wife when it's high.

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And so, like I have a care team of people who love me and want --

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You know, she may text me and go, "You need to eat something."

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I was like, "I didn't even know."

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So I'm grateful for the science and the technology that lets me live a really --

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I'm probably healthier right now because of it than I would be otherwise.

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So I'm really thankful for the technology that makes me continue to live every day.

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I'm really grateful. Look at that.

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- Oh!

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- I'm so grateful.

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So grateful.

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- So I actually have in general hated to travel almost all my life.

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Maybe because I'm impatient.

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Maybe I don't like airplanes.

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But when my daughter graduated, I made a couple of promises to myself.

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And one was that I would buy really fancy luggage

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and get the Clear or the TSA pre-check and I would travel.

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And so I'm so grateful and thankful to God that --.

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- The Clear, the eyeball thing.

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- Is it worth it?

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- I don't know. Yeah, I mean.

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Well, you know what's not worth it?

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TSA pre-check, because everybody has it.

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- Yeah, totally.

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- Everybody has it.

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- Seriously.

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- Yeah. Right. We need post check.

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- Yeah. Not a lot of people have Clear, so that's why, yeah.

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So I had the TSA Pre and then I got the Clear.

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- OK.

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- So I got fancy luggage and I got Clear.

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And I've already a couple of places this year.

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And I've also scheduled lots of great trips with girlfriends

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and with my family and with my kid and with friends.

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And so I'm super grateful just for the opportunity to travel.

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What I've learned, kind of like camping, Brian,

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is that you have to have great gear.

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And so I'm super grateful to God for that.

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- That's good.

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- Woo, close.

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- This is a year I had a lot of construction projects,

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a lot of Hands-On stuff.

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I shot my first deer this year.

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I did a lot of stuff around the house.

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This table got made, the buffet over there got made

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and a bunch of other things.

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I just -- I'm thankful that God has given me the skills He's giving me to do these things.

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And specifically He gave me those skills by introducing me

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to people who gave me those skills.

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Scott Federoff in Construction,

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Max Andrijeski in Cabinet making/cabinetry,

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Shimon Myers who sat at this table the day after Thanksgiving

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and gave me a primer on what cross-bow I needed to get

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and what to do, and the next day I had a deer.

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So it were these people just building into me

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and giving me information I didn't have.

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And I'm thankful for being competent and capable.

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I'm thankful how God has brought the right person

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into my life at the right time to give me a full life.

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(crosstalk)

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- I'll let you have it. I'll let you have it.

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I'll let you have it. Would you want me to overflow it?

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- Kinda kind of.

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- No, not -- not now.

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You already made your decision.

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- I'd like to stretch it out.

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You know, this is how I go, I like to stretch it out.

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I want more gratitude.

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- I know.

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- I know you, you're tired of this gratitude thing.

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Can we just go start watching Netflix?

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No, I'm enjoying -- I'm enjoying the worshipful environment here.

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- I appreciate the water overflowing, going, "Look at how generous God's been."

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You're just, you know, you're stiffing God here

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by not letting us experience it.

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- Okay.

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- Is this Thanksgiving?

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- Oh, yeah.

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It pretty much is, yes.

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- A very aggressive Thanksgiving.

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- Aggressive. We love an aggressive life.

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- I'll do another one. There you go.

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I am really thankful, I used to shun social media stuff.

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I used to judge people who did social media and did blogs and podcasts.

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Boy, was I wrong. I've had --

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God's given me a lot of favor

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and having fun doing Aggressive Life and the podcast.

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And it's been fun to think about things to post.

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I think I did a bunch of posts on this table.

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So there again, another new experience that God gave me this last year.

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My cup runneth over.

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I like to say my cup overflows

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because I'm visibly seeing the cup overflowing right there.

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And it's true, my heart, my cup overflows.

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So it's really cool to have a physical representation

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of the way I feel or we feel inside.

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It's good.

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So here's the way this goes.

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It's mandatory going round the circle.

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And then once it overflows like it just did,

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then it's just free for all.

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If you don't have anything else you want to say,

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If you want to pitch in now, it's just kind of free for all,

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if you want to add on and see the cup overflowing.

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We start adding stuff on right now.

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- I've got another one.

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For the first time ever in my life, I have a mentor, which is amazing.

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And it's named Don Gerred.

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He's the exact opposite of me in every single way.

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But man, he challenges me.

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He's making me a better leader, a better husband, a better friend.

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So very, very thankful for him.

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- I'm thankful for my father-in-law, who --

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we bought a new house this year, have moved.

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And he has spent so much time at our house

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just rewiring our dishwasher and repainting our laundry room.

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And just -- he has endlessly served my family.

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So I'm very thankful for Lou.

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- Ok, speaking of laundry room.

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It reminded me I wrote down one day,

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I am thankful for my extra large capacity washer.

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I have a household of six people.

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I do so much laundry, it's insane.

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And with my extra large capacity washer, I do fewer loads.

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[laughter]

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Well, there you have it, guys.

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You know a good thing to do when you close up this exercise

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is just maybe just -- why don't we hold hands

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and just thank God one last time here.

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OK?

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Lord, You are good to give us each other,

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good to give us this holiday.

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And You're good to give us all the things we mentioned and more.

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We pray God for this next year.

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We ask for more this next year.

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We ask for your hand of blessing on our life this whole next year.

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And we're already looking forward to next Thanksgiving

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because we want to recount

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the crazy, great, generous things You've done in our life.

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You're good.

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I pray these things according to the name of Jesus, Amen.

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Well, one more thing I want to do.

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Why don't we adjourn to the couch over here.

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And why don't we sing some worship songs?

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No matter where you are, we'd love for you to join in with us.

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It's another way to give thanks,

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not just articulating things to God,

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but also singing things to God.

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So why don't we go over and sing some stuff to God.

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All right. We're not done yet.

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We're not done yet.

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Oh, by the way.

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Yes.

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Thankful for a new member of our family, Peanut.

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Say hello to, everybody, Peanut.

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Hello. Hello.

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Yes. If you've been the past, Winston has been with us.

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Winston is no more part of our family, but we have Peanut here.

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So here's Peanuts first Thanksgiving.

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And don't --

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You know we're doing this

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because we want our Thanksgivings to be better.

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We want them to be different.

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We don't just want to do the same old same old gorge on Turkey

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and have tryptophan overload and all the rest the stuff.

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We want to connect with God.

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So we're giving you real things you can do to start new traditions.

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The one we did around the table.

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Now the one we're gonna sing right now.

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When we sing it can be very uncomfortable for us, but we sing.

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We give thanks to God.

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That's what these words say, we're giving thanks to God.

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God gets to hear from us with our voice box,

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making a melody, making music.

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And it feels vulnerable, which is exactly why

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I think God receives it as a beautiful offering.

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Is that right, Captain Worshiper, Robbie Reider?

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- Yeah. Yeah.

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What we're about to do, I think, we can all agree,

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it's a little uncomfortable.

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But we wouldn't ask you to do it

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if we didn't believe that it was good for you.

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So I know it's super easy that when you're watching this at home,

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maybe you've got it up on the TV,

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maybe got on your laptop.

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It comes time to the singing and it's like,

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"Well, maybe I need to unload the dishwasher."

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Stop. Don't unload the dishwasher right now.

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I would encourage you to take the posture

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of all these fine folks right here and sit down.

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And the words are gonna show up on your screen.

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I want to invite you for the next 12, maybe 13, 14 minutes to sing along.

00:20:01

Because what's going to happen is you're going to train your heart

00:20:04

to fall in line with all the things of gratitude

00:20:06

that we just said.

00:20:08

We just said our gratitude, now we're going to sing it.

00:20:10

And it's a humbling thing, and yet the Lord loves it.

00:20:14

I love it when my kids hand make me a card.

00:20:17

It's way more meaningful than when my kids

00:20:19

buy me a card and just write their name on it.

00:20:21

Now, which one's prettier?

00:20:23

Well, people would probably say the bought card.

00:20:25

But the one I keep is the one they made for me.

00:20:27

And that's what we're doing right now,

00:20:28

we're making a card of gratitude to our Father.

00:20:31

.

00:20:32

All right. So step away from the dishwasher

00:20:34

and go sit back down on your couch and let's do this.

00:20:36

All right?

00:20:42

Sing, our God a firm foundation.

00:25:40

- So as we're singing this this line, "we say yes,"

00:25:44

like, one of the things that we can do is we can simply just say,

00:25:48

"Jesus, yes, You are the one that is our provider.

00:25:51

Yes, Jesus. If there's any amount of blessing in our life,

00:25:55

yes, it comes from You.

00:25:57

Yes. Jesus, if I have any health, it is from You.

00:26:00

And when I follow You, I experience Your freedom."

00:26:04

So here's what I want you to do.

00:26:06

I want you to, wherever you are right now,

00:26:08

if you're sitting on a couch like us,

00:26:10

if you're in your car in traffic,

00:26:12

I want you to take this moment.

00:26:13

We're going to give you like 20 seconds

00:26:15

and I want you to come up with your own top three.

00:26:18

What are you grateful for right now?

00:26:21

And then as we sing the chorus the next time,

00:26:23

you're just going to going to hold that in the front of your mind.

00:26:25

All right?

00:26:26

Think of those three things.

00:26:37

So, God, as we sing this, we say yes to You,

00:26:40

that You are our provider.

00:26:42

You are our King. You are our Father,

00:26:44

You're our savior, and we love You.

00:26:52

You guys ready? We say yes.

00:30:35

- God, we are grateful and that's why we're gathered here.

00:30:38

That's why we're being vulnerable and we're singing loudly.

00:30:42

We thank You for what You've done in our lives,

00:30:44

what You're doing in our lives,

00:30:45

and what You have yet to do in our lives.

00:30:48

So with a great hope and anticipation that comes from the power

00:30:53

and the integrity and the authority of the name Jesus

00:30:58

that we were singing before.

00:30:59

Amen.

00:31:02

Great job, guys.

00:31:04

That was strong.

00:31:05

Great job for sticking it out and not doing the dishes right now.

00:31:10

BT, what do you got for us?

00:31:12

It's Thanksgiving.

00:31:13

Let's do something else other than watch a screen.

00:31:15

Let's go, chop, chop.

00:31:16

- Yeah, come on.

00:31:21

- Give thanks to God this Thanksgiving

00:31:24

through some of these exercises around your Thanksgiving table.

00:31:28

And we'll see you back for the start

00:31:30

of our brand new Christmas series this Sunday: Advent.

00:31:33

[Captions: Maverick Captioning, Cincinnati OH ]

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