—grateful for the hundreds of hours spent by volunteers making holidays memorable for others

—grateful for my family for understanding that ministry doesn't work by the clock

—grateful for the honor of serving other people rather than sitting around wondering what to do with myself

—grateful for countless memories of joyful moments rather than just fun moments

—grateful for the friendships that inevitably come from doing the same thing in real-time (choirs are wonderful things)

—grateful for pastors who shortened their sermons in order for me to get all of my music in

—grateful for congregants willing to stand in line on the coldest nights just to get a seat in the sanctuary

—grateful for a huge variety of music that was never self-conscious or boring

—grateful for non-Christian musicians who were willing to give up important time with their families to inspire ours (yes, they got paid, but...)

—grateful for people who were talented deciding that they had also been called to ministry and therefore never complained about hard work

—grateful for people who understood the difference between excellence and entertainment

—grateful for people who slapped me around a little bit, especially when I learned a valuable lesson from the experience

—grateful for fairly thick skin when somebody tried to take a piece out of it

—grateful for the honor of leading worship—who is worthy to do that—nobody—but I got to do it

—grateful for the urge to walk into every church I see because I just want to walk around in that space—that's a God thing

—grateful for the flower ladies—there are always flower ladies—particularly at Christmas and Easter

—grateful for late-night snacks—especially when you can't go to sleep after the five Christmas Eve services

—grateful for thousands of memories about moments when things didn't go as planned—sure, I can laugh now...

—grateful for naps and good excuses for taking them!