1,000 Reasons, almost….

On March 9, 2010 Marshall Jones Jr. made a challenge to his readers on his blog: BondChristian. I have had this challenge on my mind for the past three months. It's been floating around in the abyss of my head with all the other awe-inspiring stuff waiting for me to act, like writing a book or running a marathon (both of those things will remain floating for a while, however).This week I finally decided to start an actual response to Marshall's challenge. Marshall posted the challenge of making a list of 1,000 things you are thankful for. (You can see his challenge here, and his own list of 1,000 things here.) The challenge at first seemed odd and fruitless, but after only three days I couldn't have been more wrong.

I began the challenge of compiling the list on 6/17/10 and have started to add things as they come to me during the middle of the day, driving to work, in the middle of meetings, etc. It is crazy to see the diversity of the things that I have on my list so far. I am only 31% of the way done (that's up to number 310 for you non math wizards). I've gotten stuck countless times already with drawing a blank on what to put next. The question isn't whether or not you will get stuck, cause you will. The question is whether or not you will look hard enough to the small things in life you've never been thankful for before. Here is a sampling of a few items from my list:

I'm thankful that/for…..

1. God is real

7. God loves me

12. My wife's smile

26. Our new minivan

99. Downtown Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

115. Free coffee at work

155. Bonfires

172. RedBox

188. Mild Cheddar Cheese

214. A/C in cars

248. My ability to dance (which is debatable)

266. The Outer Banks, NC

294. Toilet paper

310. Splenda

You can see that there is no rhyme or reason to the items on the list. It goes where it goes, following the stream of consciousness. You might think that toilet paper at #284 is more important on the "thankfulness scale" than bonfires at #155 or free coffee at work at #115. But the list isn't a ranking or a scale, it's just a list, so don't fret.

So far the challenge is expanding my finite view of thankfulness and the never ending goodness of God. As soon as I finish my list of 1,000 things I will post it here for you to read every single last one of them, if you wish. But keeping suite with Marshall, I want to challenge you to start a list of your own.

If you are going to join in the challenge let me know the comments, and let Marshall know on his blog too.

Also, are there any things that you can think of that I can add to my list? I need your help. I have 690 more to go!