Last week, I was fortunate enough to speak at a local Christian High School. I am thankful every time I have an opportunity to share the Gospel. That a guy like me would be able to travel and speak to share God's word is a HUGE honor.

On this particular trip, it was shaping up to be a 1.5 hr drive each way. There are days where long drives (completely relative I know), early mornings and I don't get along. This day was one of them. As the drive was continuing, I thought to myself, "This is a long drive." In fact, I could feel myself starting to ramble about the amount of time I would spend speaking, versus the amount of time I spent driving (15-20 mins speaking vs. 3 hrs driving). Then, I got Jesus blocked. Here's what He said.

"Be grateful."

"The family that invited you to their school to speak does this 2-3 times a week to be apart of your church, to attend events and to keep their students involved in the Student Ministry. You're only doing this once."

"Be grateful."

I don't know how God speaks to you but when He speaks to me it is one of two ways: sarcastic or direct. If you know me at all, these are two ways that I often response. God giving me a taste of my own medicine I guess.

I can honestly say I was being ungrateful, it was a passing thought. Recently though, God has giving me some warnings before I could get to that place. It's probably God's way of keeping me in check.

As God was correcting me, I was hit with an overwhelming sense of gratitude for those who are apart of our church. We have families who drive 30-45+ minutes each way and are early to be able to serve. I had a "long" drive one day. They have a "long" drive multiple times during the week. Not only that, but the gas money, time and effort to do so is HUGE.

To those of you who make the drive, thank you. To those of you who have don't have a long drive, thank you. For our volunteers, thank you. For those who attend, thank you. For each and every person who is apart of Hope and The Factory, thank you.

I am grateful for you.