Heavenly Father I praise You for the fact that You brought Jacquetta and her family into my family’s life. For the fact that she has the ability to edit and produce books and help keep the website operational and up to date. I praise You for people like her who You have brought into my life that help me to do what it is that I am supposed to do. I praise You for their encouragement and their wisdom and correction when I need it. I praise You that You have brought people into my life that demonstrate how to be receptive to Your Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father I praise You for the friends You have brought into my life at different phases, especially the ones who have stood by me this past year to help me try to not falter after losing my son. I praise You for the faithfulness of Daryl, Darryl, Fred, Todd, David, Ryan and Candace, Robert and Butch and Terry. They have been willing ears when I needed to vent or work through my grief or my lack of understanding to Your ways.
Heavenly Father I praise You for the mentors You have brought in my life, I praise You for Dan, Ken, and many pastors who have come along who invested time into my life and taught me many lessons about God, about how to deal with people, how to handle situations and when to speak and when to be quiet. I praise You for Dan pushing me to go further in my walk and in my praying. I praise You for the faithfulness he has shown the past few years to me and my family. I praise You that much of my grounding and understanding comes from the mentors You placed in my life along my journey.
Heavenly Father I praise You for the family You have given me and for the one I was placed in. I praise You for a wife who has stood by me through many tough times these past 31 years. For her faithfulness to push me to be better and not settle. For helping me see a bigger picture of life. I praise You for my Daughter who taught me what it is to love and protect someone. Who’s laugh as a child help me push on to finish college when I was working 80 hours a week. I praise You for teaching me all the lessons of being a father and for the grace she showed to me as many times I made mistakes and had to come back to her and correct my behavior or ask for forgiveness. I praise You for my son who has exceeded all the dreams I once had to do ministry with teens. I praise You for teaching me to see myself and my stubbornness when he would be stubborn. I praise You for the times when we can discuss the Bible and different spiritual topics that we both face. I praise You for my second son who taught me to pray when he was little and so sick with his asthma. I praise You for the opportunity to be his father and watch him grow into an adult. I praise You for him bringing Alyssa into our lives and for all the fun times we had jeeping around the Upper Peninsula. I praise You for my first grandson who has amazed me as he has started to grow and get more knowledge. I praise You for his imagination and his underlying tenderness to caring about people. I praise You for my granddaughter who has truly stolen my heart and is one person who has kept me from going to some very dark places in my life. Her desire to prove she can do anything and when she tries to do basketball moves or ballerina dance moves makes me find a joy I have not known since my daughter was little like that. I praise You for my new grandson and how he will listen to me sing and while I hold him and gives me hope for the future.
Heavenly Father I am truly blessed and I praise You for all the people who pray with me and are on my email prayer chain or follow the prayers on this website. They push me to be better and to pray with confidence and to seek Your word for every promise You have made to us all. I pray for their willingness to pray on a daily and weekly time table so that we can see You move in mysterious ways. I give You all the glory, honor and praise for without the salvation and guidance by You I would probably lost hope a long time ago and would not have met so many people who have impacted my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.