I know it’s a week early for this, but I’ve got thanksgiving on my mind.

We had an early Thanksgiving Sunday night supper at church along with Communion. We had a guest sermon from a friend of mine at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary the week before that on gratitude. I’ve gotten some various emails from faith leaders with various Bible verses regarding Thanksgiving. I’m not nearly as good as some of these pastors but I figured in the spirit of the season it be a good idea to outline a few things I’m thankful for as we eventually get to Thanksgiving later this month..

I’m thankful for the literal destruction of the abortion mill in Shreveport. My friends at Louisiana Right to Life had a nice social media post about the Shreveport building coming down that talked about this better than I can.

My time a few years ago as the Interim North Louisiana Director of Louisiana Right to Life and work with staunchly pro-life candidates for various political offices over the years helped me understand this issue. The destruction of the retail outlets for abortion coming down will help but we do still have much work to do in this area.

Unfortunately, way too many abortion pills are being mailed into this state and others illegally and taking the lives of young people and eventually giving others who participated in these decisions regrets. We must continue to be willing to help pregnancy clinics and others who are standing on the front lines fighting this awful scourge.

I’m thankful for Speaker Johnson, our Republican federal delegation and the others that joined them for holding principled ground and getting the government re-opened.

Like many of you, I have family members who are getting on airplanes later this month and I plan on flying out west in December to see some of them. I’m pretty sure air traffic controllers who get paid probably show up at a higher rate than do when they don’t get paid. Taxpayers appreciate that we didn’t get stuck a ransom bill that the Democrats wanted to inflict on us for re-opening the government that included all sorts of garbage. I guess somewhere on the prayer request list at the church house a few folks need to add that hopefully we don’t repeat this song and dance in February and/or October of 2026.

I’m also thankful for new leadership @ LSU.

The new President & the new Chancellor has got a lot on tap as they start official work this week including the football coach search, but they need to get some admissions standards back in place. (By the way: any other Louisiana university needs to put them back in if they have let them go lax.) They also need to help the student body there develop a basic moral compass. On Saturday as I was tailgating at LSU I flipped through the LSU Reveille (Student newspaper there) and the head article in the Opinion section was titled, “Dear gals, it’s long past time to prioritize your pleasure.”

I can assure you this is not advice I’d want my nieces reading or taking.

Also, as I was driving back late Friday night a little after 10pm from picking up a football parking pass for Saturday’s LSU football game in Ethel, I was flipping through the radio stations when I heard the LSU student run station (91.1) talking about “inclusivity” in the arena of dealing with “transphobic relatives” over Thanksgiving. While in both cases, I’m guessing this might be how you audition for liberal/progressive mainstream media outlets these days, our taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be subsidizing, funding or prioritizing moral decay and destruction.

Given the last paragraph, I’m especially thankful for our Attorney General Liz Murrill & other elected officials in Louisiana that continue to stand up for the need of the 10 Commandments to be in Louisiana classrooms.

I look forward to the day when the lawsuits finally get settled in the Supreme Court where they have the 10 Commandments already posted. LSU & other institutions of state funded learning will join home school parents, private schools in having the 10 Commandments posted. While the 10 Commandments won’t stop every act of evil behavior that goes on inside or outside the classroom these reminders won’t hurt anyone and may help restore the moral fiber that we so desperately need in this country.

And finally, I’m thankful for the Bible-believing Clergy & Sunday School teachers who are willing to share the Word of God & teach Biblical values.

There’s a clear distinction here as some churches now refuse to teach basic biblical doctrine on traditional marriage, life, abstention from sex outside of marriage, and all other forms of sin. In fact, unfortunately some so-called churches even go further and even officiate and celebrate sinful behavior.  We need biblical teaching and conviction on the entire Bible to help restrain us from committing acts we’d later regret in our own personal lives and share the Gospel with others. It also helps us reflect on our own sinful shortcomings and to repent and not repeat the same mistakes we have made.

Trust me, I’m one of those sinners that sometimes comes up short of God’s ultimate glory and needs those reminders from our Clergy & Sunday School that I find on Sundays at Jefferson Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.

As we approach Thanksgiving and the other various holidays that come in December, I wish you nothing but God’s best as you reflect on what you are thankful for.