Thanksgiving is a traditional holiday. When I think of Thanksgiving I think of getting together with family and friends around noon, in recent years at Terri and Tommy's house (sister and brother in law). Everybody brings food to add to what is already there, and we eat and visit all afternoon and into the evening. Then I would visit in the evening with other friends close by. It is a great tradition.
But this year the tradition was broken for me. So, after eating a Thanksgiving brunch with my sons, Benjamin and Vann, at the Original Pancake House at Five Points on Wednesday morning, I boarded a plane with Deb and Lyn, two friends of mine, headed for Riga, Latvia. We did not go to the Baltics to celebrate Thanksgiving.
But we did. We were blessed to be the guests of Dan and Courtney Randall, two United Methodist preachers in Riga, Latvia, in their flat in downtown Riga, right on Iela Gertrudis. Dan and Courtney opened their home to us as if we been long-time friends. They struck that wonderful balance of treating us as special guests and yet as you would treat a member of the family ("if you need anything, you know where it is"). And we were allowed to share in some precious moments, which would be better told by Courtney.
We sat around the table with Dan and Courtney and four more friends they had invited for Thanksgiving dinner. The table was full of food, but that was not all. It was full of laughter, of friendship, and of thanksgiving.
There were many other memorable things on this trip, which I may blog about later. But right now I am remembering and giving thanks that there are folks like Courtney and Dan out there, being Christ in Latvia, and wherever they go.
Dan's blog is http://randallsreflections.blogspot.com/ He posted a picture of the Thanksgiving table. Give him a comment and tell him to keep blogging so we can all know what's going on in Latvia, and with the Randalls.
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