I’m thankful for the big and the little things in life. Each year, I try to name them one by one.

For a wife who loves me without conditions; a baby boy who lights up my mind and melts my heart; a family who accepts each other for our many differences; friends who are as diverse as God’s big planet; Blue Bell ice-cream; Peanut M&M’s; banana pudding; good novels; my childhood neighborhood that stretched almost 1.5 miles; a church that is hungry to go deeper; the church of my youth that taught me to love/live Jesus; sharing a room with my twin brother for the first eighteen years of my life; the opportunity to write a book; a job that challenges me physically and mentally; parents who poured their energy into their kids; water; steak; friends in the Stone-Campbell movement who refuse to let our tradition become completely irrelevant in our telling of the Jesus Story; a new team of ministers/shepherds/ministry leaders to work alongside; God’s propensity to rupture our story; the Gospel of Luke; a warm bed and comfortable house; the voice inside that whispers, “take more risks, Josh”; four seasons; Columbia Seminary, Hazelip School of Theology, RC, and ACU (for forming me in ways I did not know I lacked); the opportunity to preach and teach every week; men and women who speak and write about injustice; sweet tea; the faces, stories, and people “on the margins” who constantly reside in my spirit; good books; running; the prospect of new life; hope; truth-telling; and, most of all, I’m thankful for resurrection.