by Dale Reeves
Story Pastor
This coming Sunday, our lead pastor at Christ’s Church, Trevor DeVage, will preach the final week in our teaching series, “Six Words That Can Change Your Life.” The word of the weekend is THANKS—a word we don’t say near enough! You can check out that message here. I love that we are talking about the necessity of expressing gratitude to others and receiving thanks from others in a healthy way this weekend, rather than just talking about this topic in November. We feel obligated to talk about it then, on the day in which we celebrate our blessings with family while eating turkey, watching NFL football, and taking afternoon naps. 
So, What’s That Got to Do with Krispy Kreme?
Just last week I was thankful for one of the sweetest things this side of Heaven . . . the opportunity to drive just a few miles from my home and see the “Hot Doughnuts Now” sign illuminated. We had been anticipating the opening of the newest Krispy Kreme store in our area for several months, on Tylersville Rd. in West Chester. And, I knew that opening day was fast approaching. I had talked about driving through on opening day, but I knew it was going to be crazy busy. Several friends I knew had hit the store earlier in the day, but for me, tradition dictated that it had to be a nighttime drive-thru.
I’m not sure how many doughnuts were sold on opening day weekend at this new location, but Krispy Kreme makes over 20 million yearly, and one location in Southern California (I’ve been to that store!), lays claim to serving 50,000 doughnuts a day.
King David exclaimed in Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!” (NLT).
I’m so thankful for the daily goodness and sustenance of the Lord in my life, and I’m thankful for the joys of consuming a Krispy Kreme doughnut.
Counting My Blessings
I am thankful that my good friend Shawn Krumm (is that last name a derivative of “Kreme”?), posted the update about Krispy Kreme on her Facebook page, thus reminding me I could still get there opening day before they closed at 10:00 pm.
I am thankful for the policeman who told me, while I was in a long car line after 9:00 pm, that if I didn’t just park my car, and go inside, that I might not make it through the drive-thru line before closing.
I am thankful that I got a free bonus doughnut because I recently received the COVID-19 vaccine.
I am thankful for the daily bread I receive from God, and the job I get to have at Christ’s Church that enabled me to have the money to buy those doughnuts.
While waiting in the car line before heading inside, I enjoyed FaceTiming my brother-in-law Greg who lives in Charlotte, North Carolina—just to rub it in. For many, many years we have driven to the Krispy Kreme located at 980 W. International Speedway Blvd in Daytona Beach, Florida, late at night or very early in the morning—and have been overjoyed to see the brightly shining red neon light announcing, “Hot Doughnuts Now.” Many people who did not grow up with this experience in their hometown or on family vacations don’t get it. They eat a Krispy Kreme doughnut and say, “Yeah, what’s the big deal?” I feel sorry for them.
I’ll grant you that if you just buy a box of them at the grocery store where they’re not hot, there are other sweet treats out there in the donut world that taste better. Some of them are on the Butler County Donut Trail. But, if you have ever let one of those babies melt in your mouth as they have just come off the conveyor belt at the Krispy Kreme store, then you’ve had what pastor/author Louie Giglio once called at a youth ministry conference I attended, “A spiritual experience.”
There’s a profound difference between just eating a donut and allowing your whole body, mind, and spirit to be engulfed with the hot-and-fresh-ring-shaped-goodness-in-your-mouth experience.
What Are You Thankful for?
So, I was thankful to be able to get some doughnuts on opening day. And, the next morning as two of our grandsons arrived at our house to be babysit while their parents worked, it was all worth it, when three-year-old Luke said with his eyes aglow, “Thank you, Pop Pop, for getting these donuts!” As I sat down to partake of one of those delectable circles of glazed sweetness, one-year-old Liam, showed up right on time, looking at me with his big eyes, and begging, “Bite. Bite!!”
What things are you thankful for today? They might be huge answers to prayer, or they might be very minute blessings sent to you from a heavenly Father who cares about all the big and small details of your life. Jesus said, “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11, NIV).
When’s the last time you told your heavenly Father “thank you” for all the things he sends your way every day? Who in your life have you thanked this week for something they did to make your life a little better? Maybe something was done for you to ease a burden, or to take on a whole load.
It’s not the Thanksgiving holiday, but you can choose to be generous in distributing as much thankfulness and gratitude as you’d like. There’s no limit. Why not go for it, and give out a baker’s dozen of thankful sentiments today? We have a good, good Father who has surrounded us with good, good people. Tell them thanks today.