The Challenge

Last night at church, we were challenged to recall some of the things that we are thankful for, either in the past or recently. Being thankful was only part of the sermon, the other part was to remember lest we forget and be ungrateful and complaining. I know I’ve shared things that I have been thankful for, but never given God the praise that He deserved. I want to remedy that right now.

One incident that came to mind was one summer evening I was walking from the Indian Head Community Center after a Friday night skating event to my grandparent Miner’s house. It was about one eighth of a mile journey. It was along Route 711 and there were no lights along the way except for an occasional passing car. The road passes between two high banks. Their tops were covered in mountain laurel and trees.

About halfway through the trip, I heard something moving in the thick brush and stones trickle down the bank. It was dark enough that I couldn’t see what caused the disturbance, but I wrapped the skate strings around my wrist and thought I could use them as a weapon if necessary. My youthful imagination thought of all kinds of frightening scenarios. Back then, there were still mountain lions and bears that were fairly common.

I made it safely to my grandparent’s house safely and thought no more of it, that is until my dad came home and announced, “Last night a pig was killed at Snuffy Gallentine’s place. It ate the pig’s innards. They saw bear tracks by the pen.”

I’m still not one hundred percent sure that it was the same animal that was on the bank, but Snuffy’s farm was located beside the Community Center. There are many other times I have remembered, but I want to thank God for his goodness and mercy in my life.