Giving Thanks

Dear Friends:

It's Thanksgiving Weekend here in Canada! It's good to pause and give thanks for the many blessings that God has showered upon us. We are truly a blessed people!

Here are a few things we are thankful for:

* We thank God that our daughter Tracy is recovering well from her surgery. We won't know for a week or two if the uterine cancer has spread but she came through the operation well and we're grateful for your prayers.

* We thank God for the great news we got recently about the tuition assistance that we will receive for Matthew and Nathan's schooling. Our worker went to bat for us and we're grateful for the result. With both boys having challenges we need extra help for them and we received a big boast from a local agency.

* We are grateful for the season of ministry that we just completed with the Toronto Blue Jays through Baseball Chapel. The support and encouragement received from the GM and the manager was phenomenal! On the last weekend of the season both J. P. Ricciardi and John Gibbons expressed their thanks and assured me of their ongoing support of what we're doing with the players.

* We are grateful for the great start we've had with our ministry to the Peterborough Petes. We've met twice already for our "Monday We Have Fish" sessions. Two weeks ago we had 18 players in attendance. I told them I'd be away last Monday but they wanted "Fish" anyways. Normally we meet every 2nd Monday but they wanted to go ahead without me. My "inside man", head trainer Brian Miller, is quite capable of filling in for me and while I was out of town 21 guys showed up. Thanks, Brian, for your leadership and partnership! Goes to show you that "Fish" isn't the catalyst in this ministry. It's a "God thing"! We're amazed but grateful for what God is doing.

* I'm thankful for the four days of renewal, refreshing and recharging that I had at the Hockey Ministries International staff conference in the Laurentians, north of Montreal. What a team of ministry people we have with HMI! The weather was beautiful and the scenery with the changing colors was out of this world.

* I'm grateful for my workmates with Christian Horizons and for the two young men, Patrick and Ryan, that we care for and support. God has put together a wonderful team of caregivers at Peterborough House 11 and I'm glad to be part of the team. This isn't just a job to put food on the table for me. It is another phase of ministry and I'm thankful for the opportunity to serve God by helping others who have challenges.

* I'm grateful for the friends that God has given me. If you're reading this e-mail then our paths have crossed over the years in one way or another. A few of you are friends I've never met yet but God has somehow connected us. Thanks for your encouragement, your friendship, your love and your support!

* I'm grateful for my immediate and extended families who support what we're doing. THANK YOU!

* I'm thankful for our local church, Auburn Bible Chapel, and for the family and friends who attend there. The church family has been so supportive of us as a family and as a ministry. Thank you! I'm grateful for our pastor, John MacLean, and for our youth pastor, Jeff Pascoe, and for the elders and deacons who carry such a load of responsibility.

* Finally, and most importantly (is that really a word?), I'm grateful to God for His Son Jesus Christ and for His calling on my life. What a joy, blessing, privilege and responsibility to be able to share the good news of Jesus Christ not only in the sports world but with people in general.

* So, dear friends and family, I'm a grateful man today and I praise God for what He is doing!

With much love in Christ,

David

Note: Next weekend I'll be joining with my counterparts with Baseball Chapel as the 30 Major League Chapel Leaders get together for the Straight Up Conference at Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, IL. Speakers will include James MacDonald, Joseph Stowell. Erwin Lutzer, Crawford Lorrits, Jr. and David Jeremiah. In between the ministry sessions with these men, we will be getting together as a Baseball Chapel team for mutual encouragement and "sharpening". Thanks for your prayers!