Ladies’ Day 2006 is now history.    What a wonderful  experience it was for every member and every guest.  We had 102 in attendance with representatives from nineteen congregations.  I heard that Cindi did an outstanding job presenting lessons on the theme:  Are You Spiritually Healthy?”  Thank you to every  member  of  the  St. Andrews  Road  congregation  for  your  help  in  this  year’s  Ladies’ Day.   Everything was simply perfect.  Thank you especially to the men who came early to serve lunch and then stayed late to help clean everything up. Congratulations to Louie and Tessa Cucullu!  Louie and Tessa exchanged their wedding vows in a beautiful ceremony at  Irmo Town Park  last Saturday afternoon.   It was my privilege to assist them as their minister.  May God bless them as they begin their new life together as husband and wife! This coming Sunday  our sermons  will be centered on the giving of thanks at Thanksgiving.  On Sunday morning we will ask the question; “Am I Thankful?”  We will look at the giving of thanks as:  a CELEBRATION of freedom, a REMEMBRANCE of the past, an APPRECIATION for the present, and a DECISION for the future. On Sunday  night we will continue to study  the subject of gratitude with a lesson entitled “Gracious Living.”  We will look at gratitude in three ways: personal relationship, personal direction, and personal accountability.  I believe that you will be challenged and encouraged by these lessons from God’s word. I love  the holiday season!   What  do you remember  about this time  of the year when you were younger?  Can you take a few minutes to try to remember those carefree days that really were not so long  ago?   For me, I  remember my  Granny Burleson’s  kitchen  table.   Wow!    What  a  spread!   Grandmothers certainly know how to cook.  I can see her kitchen in my mind -- tables entirely filled with every kind of meat, every vegetable you can think of and some you’ve never heard of, several kinds of bread, gravy, grits, yams, hominy, and “Oh!” the desserts -- cakes and pies too many to even sample.   She made the most delicious “fried pies,” apple, peach, and chocolate.  At the center of the dessert table was her famous  “Red Velvet Cake”  complete with toothpicks to hold everything together.   She watched you as you filled your plate saying, “Try some of this!”  “Oh, you need to taste this!” all while she scooped those items on your plate.  I remember my Papa Burleson.  He went to sleep in Christ at the age of 90 or so.  I remember him sitting in his Lazy Boy waiting for the entire family to arrive to enjoy the bounty God had supplied.  And get this!  Their house had three 8x8 bedrooms with one really small bathroom, a kitchen, and a family room, all less than 1000 square feet, built in the 1940’s.  I’m speaking of riches  that many in today’s culture cannot  begin to understand.   Excuse me for getting a little bit reminiscent.  Memories like these make us who we are. Let us remember that “Thanksgiving” as a special day is a custom found in America and not in the Scriptures.  As Christians, we are so very blessed.  Let us show our gratitude to God every day by living the Christian life.  Let us show our  gratitude daily to our family  and friends who love us and  whom we love by words and deeds of kindness and generosity.  May every day be a day of “thanksgiving” for you and me as we show and share the gospel of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!