It always comes back to this – gratitude.

Sarah and I came back to the states on Wednesday, and not 72 hours later, there’s a shooting in a bar in my old stomping grounds, and the greatest fire of all time burning California to ashes. All of this sudden ridiculous nonsense gave me a need to pause for a second.

We never know when our time is. Right now there could be some irate mentally challenged person down the street preparing his arsenal to go shoot up a mall I’ll be at soon. Or someone could be planning a terrorist plot to cause inordinate harm to innocent masses to prove some bullshit extremist point. Or an angry millennial could be preparing their AR-15 to come into the Starbucks I’m sitting in, and unload their hatred on unwitting coffee drinkers, but in their twisted view, be justified. We just never know when, especially these days. I have already instinctively noted all of the closest exits to me, and subconsciously profile every person I see in this place- in just about every place I go to. If something’s off, I’m outta here.

These are trying times as I see around me great terror, harm, racism, stupidity, and hatred. It’s such an odd juxtaposition next to my friends around me who are in the season of bringing new life into this crazy world. It makes me be thankful that in this increasingly chaotic world, there are pockets of life, joy, happiness, and love. I know that I have no real problems in the world, especially when I consider the despair that so many are going through. I know that I am better off than 99% of the population in the world, and the “problems” I have are where to eat dinner tonight, or what kind of house I want to live in. I have so much to be thankful for, yet the craziness numbs my heart in the midst of it all. It just doesn’t seem right.

What can a man do but pray, live right, be thankful, hope, generate love, and uphold all that makes the world a joyful place to live? I continue to hold faith that there is so much in life to experience, give, and enjoy, no matter what one’s office in life is. No one can take that away from me.