Thanksgiving 2011 Top Ten List
For the past 3 years I have made a list of the top ten things I have been thankful for in that particular year, beginning in November 2008, one month after the discovery of a large AVM (arterio venous malformation) in the left frontal lobe of my brain.
Thus began a saga that would be a forever turning point in my life and one that has made me a tad bit more thankful for…well…everything! Especially the little things like being alive, the ability to speak, move both sides of my body, etc. stuff I took entirely for granted for the first 44 years of my life. I personally believe it is impossible to be as thankful as we ought to be no matter how gloomy our situation may appear to be at any given moment in time.
Here is my list of top ten things I am most thankful for on this day, November 24,2011 (in ascending order)
10. The St. Louis Cardinals’ improbable win in the 2011 World Series.
9. Texas Roadhouse any day of the week. 6 ounce sirloin steak, several fresh rolls with cinnamon butter, peanuts, fries, and a salad. Good stuff!
8. Power tools.
7. The fact that I am now officially off the blood thinner coumadin,which is the same stuff from which rat poison is made. Just got back from Mayo on Monday and received the news that the bloodwork shows that I have a gene mutation called PT20210A (catchy huh?) that I share with 3% of the population that puts me at a slight increase for blood clots as the prothrombin gene has been altered. I am officially a mutant and I have the papers to prove it.
6. Crossroad E. Free Church and the precious saints who make up her constituency…and the body of Christ worldwide.
5. Today, tomorrow, and every day of life after that (if in fact they come) that I have yet to live on this earth.
4. The continual privilege of seeing all of life through the lens of a heightened sense of my own mortality that only a razor close brush with death could bring.
3. My five children: Luke 19, Benj 17, Elisabeth 13, Gabbie 9, and Jared 6.
2. My precious wife Karla, who has stuck with me, is sticking with me, and will continue sticking with me as is evidenced by the fact that on December 27th of this year marks our 25th anniversary!
1. God Himself and the guarantee of a future inheritance of the Kingdom of God which cannot be shaken and where all things will be made new (Hebrews 12:28-29). The fact that I, even as an imperfect follower of Jesus, am receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken makes me very glad indeed.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Mike Evans
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