Gilbert Thurston

Random Thoughts About Life, Ministry and Whatever Else Happens to be on my Mind

  • About
  • About

Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2014 Edition)

November 27, 2014 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

For many years now I have posted my list of things I’m thankful for each Thanksgiving morning. As 2014 starts to come to a close, this year will be no different.

1 & 2. These two never change…Jesus and Lisa in that order. It’s not that I’m just thankful for them, they are also my top 2 in every decision in life and every priority that I have. By many standards I’ve had a pretty “successful” life. I give the credit not to just these two for their help but also that I never waver in keeping them the highest priority before anyone or anything else.

3. I’m alive: I guess in past years I’ve always taken life itself for granted. But after my incident back in February where I witnessed the shooting and then was chased myself, I have a new appreciation for each day that God gives me and I’m thankful I get to continue serving Him and His purposes.

4. My Family I’ve been fortunate through the years to have a large and close knit family (Parents, sibling grandparents, aunts uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, etc). Somehow, someway we still, although it’s not very frequent, stay connected together. Add into this mix my in-laws and I’m very blessed to have a family that I very much love and know is always there for me as I am for them.

5. My church Although we are about as small as we’ve ever been, we are also probably the healthiest we’ve ever been. I love each and every one of the people that God has given me to pastor and I’m so thankful that He’s opened up a door for us to purchase our own building.

6. Experiences Within the last few years I’ve made a more conscious decision to spend money not on stuff but experiences. Stuff will break, get stolen, wear out, be replaced by the next new thing, etc. But experiences are memories that can’t be taken from you. So I’m thankful that in the past year I’ve added many more great memories into the mind bank. Whether it be attending the Little League World Series, eating new foods, playing in the World Series of Poker, hanging out on a TV show set, traveling out west for 3 weeks, leading training events, etc., I’ve been so blessed this year to experience some really cool stuff.

7. Technology It’s amazing to think of how far we’ve come in the past 20 or so years. 20 years ago you still may have been using a rotary phone and your computer on your desk was big, slow and not that powerful. Today you carry your phone in your pocket and it’s hundreds of times more powerful than the old computer you first had. Anymore I hardly ever read an actual hard/soft cover book because now it’s all done electronically. Even more amazing is how all my devices sync up to allow me to do that. As an example, I may be listening to an audio book in the car on the way to an appointment. When I get out of the car and I’m sitting in a waiting area I can pull out my phone and continue reading the book at the same place I just left off in the car…but not because I turned to the right place…No it knows where I left off. Later I can do the same thing at my computer or on my tablet…each time it saying, “here is where you last left off on your other device, would you like to continue from there”. I mean how amazing is that? And if that’s how far we’ve come in the last 20 years, imagine what the next 20 will bring.

8. You If you’ve made it this far then you are probably someone that is close to me and I just want to thank you for who you are and your love and friendship. Looking forward to many more years with you where we can make new memories to be thankful for!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Don’t Forget to Look Up

August 6, 2014 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

20140623_145026I shared this story the other day with a class I was teaching and thought I’d post it here as well. Lisa and I recently returned from a 3 week vacation out west. One of the highlights of the trip was our day driving through and hiking in Yosemite National Park. At one point we were walking and the canopy of trees we were going through felt very much like what we experience here in the east when walking through a forest…lots of brown and green…not a lot to see except for tree after tree and the path you’re walking on.

Then it hit me! I said to Lisa, “I keep forgetting to look up”. Out in front of us and high in the sky were beautiful, sometimes snow capped mountains. In the east we don’t get to see anything like that so we keep our eyes straight ahead or down. In the west the real beauty is when you look up.

I wonder how often we live our lives the same way? We get so caught up in the day-to-day routine of life, eyes straight ahead on a goal were pursuing or down because of something negative that’s happened and we forget to look up to the God who created us, who loves us and is the only “thing”(person) really worth looking at!

Today I challenge to take sometime appreciating Him for the beauty of who He is. And each day remind yourself, “Oh yeah, I’ve got to look up”.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: God, hiking, reflection, Yosemite National Park

My Day on a TV Show Set

March 25, 2014 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

On Friday morning I woke up to an interesting email that read, “Please call me ASAP about appearing on the Poker Night in America TV show”. It was signed and had all the contact information for Nolan Dalla who is the Media Director for the World Series of Poker. I was already familiar with him and the concept for this new TV show so I called him for more info.

Basically the show which premieres in April will be a bit different than poker shows in the past have been. Yes, it will still show the action from a game but it’s also part reality show in that they want to focus on the people who play the game and the interesting backgrounds and stories that they have. Thus the call for me to appear on the show.

After talking about it and thinking/praying about it over the weekend I decided for a couple of reasons not to appear. When I let Nolan know my decision he was very gracious and still invited me to come to the taping to see what it was like and to meet and mingle with some of the players. That I decided to do so I took a couple of hours yesterday to drive down to Baltimore to check it out. To follow are some of the pictures I took along with some comments.

20140324_140815

20140324_142753

20140324_153120

20140324_153552

20140324_153803

I was just as fascinated by the production side of things as anything else. Learned a couple of ideas to make my videos even better. This particular shoot was going on for 12 hours. Players were rotating in and out but some of the names included Greg Merson, Jason Summerville, Danielle Andersen, David Baker, Gavin Smith, Matt Glantz and apparently Olympic Swimming champ Michael Phelps showed up shortly after I left.

Nolan is the guy standing in the middle of the 3 guys in picture 3. The female I’m pictured with is Danielle Andersen. She was one of the stars of the movie, “Bet, Raise, Fold“. Lisa and I watched it a few months back and it’s sort of like what this TV show is about…ordinary people, in this case a woman who’s husband taught her the game and she excelled while raising a family in Minnesota. She seemed so nice in the movie and she was no different in person.

As for the guy I’m pictured with, that is 2012 Main Event Champion of the World Series of Poker, Greg Merson. Greg is from the Baltimore area and 2 years ago he outlasted 6598 players to take home over 8.5 million for his WSOP win. He was very gracious with his time with me and had some kind words.

I had a great time and was grateful for the opportunity to see the behind the scenes of something I’ve only ever seen on TV. I was able to share my story with a few people and hopefully I was able to burst some of their preconceived notions of what followers of Jesus are like. In fact one person commented, “You’re really funny, I didn’t expect that from a pastor”. I think it’s pretty cool that my hobby is more and more becoming a platform to share my faith. Who knows, maybe soon I’ll be able to do that on TV. They will more than likely be shooting again this summer in Baltimore and Nolan has already invited me to come back to again observe or if I want play… we’ll see.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Evolution vs. Creation Debate

February 20, 2014 by Gilbert 2 Comments

Two weeks ago Ken Ham and Bill Nye the Science Guy had a live debate on Evolution vs. Creationism.  If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it below and then I’ll give my thoughts.

Ok so here are my 2 cents on this.  First, I don’t think Ken Ham did followers of Jesus a favor by limiting this to Creationism being strictly defined by the Young Earth argument.  In fact he is in the minority even amongst Protestant pastors according to the last time Gallup poll.   For a debate like this it would have been much better if he went with “intelligent design”.  In other words whether you believe in the Young or Old earth, all creationists believe that behind every creation there is a creator.

But here is the real point I want to make.  My faith is not dependent on is the earth young or old.  My faith is not dependent on the flood of Noah or the dozens of other things that these two gentlemen debated.  My faith is based on “Did Jesus rise again from the dead or not?”  You see as I discussed in this message and as Andy Stanley has said so well, “Christianity isn’t based on teachings but rather on an event”.  No matter how good the teachings of Jesus are or the rest of the bible for that matter, if Jesus didn’t rise again from the dead then our faith is useless (1 Cor. 15:7).

This then is the question all of us must investigate and then answer for ourselves.  I don’t care if your an atheist or a person who attends church each week.  I don’t care if your an evolutionist or a creationists.  Did Jesus really rise again from the dead?  If He did then we must take His teachings and the bible seriously.  If He didn’t then none of these debates really matter because our whole existence is pointless.

So again I’d encourage you to investigate this for yourself.  I’d recommend you read,”The Case for Christ“.  In this book an investigative reporter interviews scholars, archeologists, medical doctors, historians and others to see if there is enough evidence to not only see if Jesus lived, but if  He died and rose again.  It’s worth the read and then you draw your own conclusions.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Bill Nye the Science Guy, Creationism, Evolution, Ken Ham, Resurrection, The Case for Christ, Theological Thursday

Rejected Superbowl Commerical

February 7, 2014 by Gilbert Leave a Comment

This past Sunday the Seahawks scrimmaged a Pee Wee team from the Denver area but thankfully the game was called because of the mercy rule.  Wait!  What?  That was the real team from Denver?!?  Oh well at least the Superbowl commercials were good right?  Nope wrong again.  Perhaps if this one had made the cut America would be talking, laughing and a bit creeped out.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: commericals, Funny Friday's, Super Bowl

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 128
  • Next Page »

Recent Posts

  • Things I’m Thankful For (2018 Edition)
  • Things I’m Thankful For (2017 edition)
  • Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2016 Edition)
  • The Power of Mini Habits
  • Annual Things I’m Thankful For (2015 Edition)

Archives

  • November 2018
  • November 2017
  • November 2016
  • January 2016
  • November 2015
  • November 2014
  • August 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • July 2013
  • November 2012
  • July 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • About

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Copyright © 2023 · Genesis Sample on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in