Thank You Lord! 12-24-09

I just need to talk a few moments with You. You know I don't really get into this season. More often than not it really has been Xmas and not Christmas in my eyes. It's not that I don't adore Your gift. I do.

I just want to thank You for some things and tell you things You already know. I want to thank you for Jesus. I want to thank You for all the compassionate leaders You've sent for thousands of years.Thank You for all the leaders that have adhered to a creed such as "Love the righteous. Have compassion for the distressed."

I want to thank You for my loved ones and friends being well or at peace. I want to thank You for my friends of different faiths who would "love their neighbors as themselves".

I thank You for my friends who are atheists and do not believe in You but would be peacemakers. Thank You for these atheists who unknowingly and enthusiastically apply the "new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another" as Jesus implied, to themselves. Thank You for these "non-believers" who would give to the poor and not "sound a trumpet" about it.

Thank You for people from across the world who treat others with kindness, respect, and dignity. Thank You for Europeans, Africans, Asians, Latinos, and people from all origins including the many I cannot even imagine.

Thank You for keeping Your hand on me in what seem the most mundane and fruitless circumstances. Thanks for the loss of my keys, the dead car battery, and other tedious malfunctions just so that I could meet a Russian named Vladimir at my favorite restaurant, share a conversation, and tell him it was one dollar Margarita night. Thanks for Your guidance even if I don't see it.

Thank You for days like today as I ride with inadequate clothing and feel the brutality of Your coldness. Thank You for the cold feet. I'm glad my feet were cold and hurt. Thank You for allowing me to think about those less fortunate, who can't ride at all. Thank you for the pain in my head, my legs, and my lungs.

Thank You for these stronger riders today who were better and made me humble.

Thanks for the beautiful scenery!

Thanks for allowing me to share the pictures as well as my thoughts.

Thanks for teaching me of my limitations.

It doesn't matter if people believe as I do.

It doesn't matter if the "season" seems distorted at times.

Men have written and rewritten history. People have been told so many fairy tales.

I just pray that You will continue to keep a hand on me.

Slow me down. Keep me on solid ground. Let me see the truth.                          Allow me to tell it like it is.

Thank you for smooth black-top asphalt.

Thank You for the great nourishment.

Thank you for all faiths, especially my Jewish friends, Ben and Jerry, who invented Chunky Monkey Ice-cream!