As I prepare to enjoy thanksgiving with family and friends, I am thinking about two of the elders in our congregation who are battling cancer.  I know both of them well, and they are both models of gratitude.  Lindel is old enough to be my dad and over the past 13 years I have served with him in many leadership capacities at Calvary Church. More than once he has been there for me – kicking me under the table at a leadership meeting when he knew I was about to open my pie hole at the wrong time.  He has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with me when we have had to make difficult and unpopular decisions as spiritual leaders.  He’s solid.  I was in the room with him when his wife died of cancer last Christmas.  Now he is battling cancer – fighting for his own life – and I am watching him respond to God’s sovereign will for his life with trust and gratitude.  This Sunday I embraced him warmly and he said (with tear-filled eyes) – “I am so thankful for God’s goodness to me.”  Wow!