Time for some vulnerability, authenticity, gratitude, & worship. November's famous Thursday is coming.  In grammar school, we learn about collaboration of Pilgrims & Native Americans.  We have all sorts of pics & examples & expectations of food feasts.  SO, What are our current expectations?

What's your definition, understanding, meaning of the word thanksgiving?  Of the holiday?  Depends upon what we value in life? Depends on the systems & environment both within & out of our control? Depends upon what life has thrown your way? 

During the past little bit, I've dealt with death, disloyalty, disappointment, and hurricane disaster. Why is it, that a person trained in relationship understanding, development & enhancement should have so many challenges in his own life?  

Because:  No One promised you a "Rose Garden". (song from the 70's) Belief in positive mental attitude, in Our God, human connection, education, $$$, and everything/anything else will fail to protect you from "life". BUT, al these aspects can come together to help us make meaning from whatever station we travel through currently! Some of the best wisdom comes at the other end of disaster. Ex: Winston Churchill - Never, Never, Never Quit! (WW2 era) is as valid today as was then. William Jennings Bryan Dorn gave the same speech at the graduation of seniors, GHS, 1974. 

How do we rise above the casualties, the hardships, the unexpected realities of life?  By contributing to a cause that is higher than Self.  BY taking your truest dreams, values, beliefs, a step further than ever before. 

Addicts are addicts because of the dopamine rush that came from the first usage of their habit. Dopamine is powerful. The same dopamine & also some seretonin (The attraction chemical) happens when you feel you're helping someone else. Wonderful cure for what ails ya! And Biblical too. 

SO, in the midst of all that has happened in the past year, I can still be thankful, grateful.

1) I have a chance to share with so many lives in so many ways, through Cultured Cowboy. (Talk about a Carolina Cowboy high!)
2) I'm still a survivor of cancer. From we'll make you as comfortable as possible for the next 3 months, to no recurrence yet. And a surgeon that was astonished that the tissue removed was DOA, as he put it. 
3) Gas prices have come down some in SC.  Maybe food costs will too. 
4) New fur factories should be operational soon, so 2025 will be a year much easier to fill felt hat orders.
5) Some of the major boot makers, who have let quality slip, are talking about better products again.
6) A Pop singer did Country, & line dancing has become a larger thing again.  Been a while for most areas.
7) God is still a God of Love.
8) Although I don't have the number of people working with me that I really need, I'm being able to pay off bills quicker. This cash flow is especially needed since Hurricane Heleene rip-snorted my farm.
9) The retail store only had exterior cosmetic damages; no trees crashing through the store roof!
10) Although my mind is somewhat slower at 68, and my body is definitely slower, I can still climb on the barn roof & replace tin; I can still chainsaw trees off the fences; I can still look at my dogs & horses, cats & wildlife, (Gotta couple skunks that think they belong on the front porch.) (Wild deer jump the fences & visit me.) with awe and reverence, reminded of the many miracles of life offered all of us.

I'm looking forward to sharing the holidays with many of you. Email your pics my way (I might share some on the Cultured Cowboy site) When asked why, when I should be retired, I'm still looking to expand this business:  It's about the relationships.  It's about growing a huge network of rodeo & trail riding buddies.  It's about having a platform to share salvation.  It's about much more than the orders we get from all of you, (Though BELIEVE me, they are more than greatly appreciated!) It's about the little kids that come ride the "Bouncy" horse on the porch. It's about the couples who come in to share their wedding plans, their newborns, their lives. It's about sharing stories, tales & adventures with the elders among us.  It's about helping coach people from self doubt to self confidence. 

God Bless you all, through the thick & thin of life. Life is filled with seasons that make us grow into the person we are to become!

Chucky T 

   Dear God, Thank You for family and friends. God, if anyone is out there thinking life is not worth living, if any person is hurting so much that escape seems normal, please let them run into us; so we can tell them that there is good news. Let them remember that somebody needs them too. It's the feeling of giving that makes all life worth living. Not that we are so important, but that we can make a difference in somebody else's life. That is really what makes life worth living.