By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

The funny thing about this week is, no matter how much or how little is going on in the world, I don't have to wrack my brain for an idea about what to put in this space. I probably won't have enough space anyway, but here goes.

I am thankful for the opportunity to live my entire life (so far) in the United States of America. Enough said there.

I am thankful that, like everything else in my life, my national origin was not an accident or some fluke of evolution. I don't have to wonder about my life being hopelessly out of control; I know that nothing is left to chance, that there's no such thing as luck, because I know that Someone is watching and looking after every single aspect of my daily existence.

I am thankful for two teenage girls, whose names I don't remember, who took some time on a Saturday afternoon in 1973 to walk through the apartment complex in Memphis where a six-year-old boy and his family lived, and asked my brother and me if we would like to ride the church bus. The eternal destiny of our entire family was eventually secured because those folks cared about our souls. I am also thankful that an almost identical episode took place here in Georgia at about the same time, and the family affected there included the woman I would eventually marry.

I am thankful that the merciful hand of an almighty God led my family to this area when I was a teenager, and that I would eventually be able to make my home here as an adult.

I am thankful for the Pinecrest Baptist Church in Morrow, a way station on the weekly road of our otherwise stressful lives where our family receives love, compassion, and the things we need from God to get through each week. I am thankful for the people there, my dearest friends, who care about me and pray for me every week.

I am thankful for my place of employment, where I can come each day to a pleasant environment and spend the necessary hours to make my living with people I can also call my friends.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be a husband and a father, the most awesome responsibilities of my life and the two most important jobs I will ever undertake, as well as the primary reasons I leave the house in the morning and the best reasons I look forward to coming home every night.

I am thankful for Kelly, whom I had the good sense to ask to be my wife before someone else snatched her away. She takes better care of me than I deserve and looks after me more than she should have to much of the time. She is living proof that people do not meet in this world by accident, because I have no doubt that the Lord sent her to me.

I am thankful for Samuel, who facial expression each afternoon when he sees his daddy cannot be described with words. I pray every day that I have the strength and the wisdom to give him the kind of guidance my own father gave me.

I am thankful for my parents and my in-laws, who continue to set a wonderful example for their children as well as their grandson. I am thankful that they all live less than 20 minutes away. Sometimes it seems too easy, because I know I can pick up the phone whenever I need any of them to help me with a problem, however large or small.

I am thankful for the time I have spent with my little brother, whose name my son now carries. He was my best friend for most of my adult life until he was unexpectedly taken to Heaven in July of 1997. I am even more thankful that I will see him again someday.

I am thankful that, for everything that has come into my life which I might consider tragic or catastrophic, I know that the Lord has kept such things from me many more times than I deserve. Only eternity will tell how thorough His protection over me and my family has been through the years.

And I am thankful in advance for whatever is coming down the road. Although I don't know what tomorrow holds, I know for certain Who holds tomorrow. My prayer this holiday season is that each and every one of you finds the same peace that I have.

[Monroe Roark can be reached at mroark@TheCitizenNews.com.]

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