1 Thessalonians 5:18 “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
On Friday, my alarm went off at 5:15 in the morning so I could start getting ready for a small group meeting called Act Like Men. I sat up, turned off my alarm, and remembered that I no longer have a vehicle since I sold my car just a couple days before. So I said in the group message that I wouldn’t make it, and before I could get comfortable in bed, Adam responds saying he can come and get me. Yes! I get to go to small group! He picks me up, and I go. Afterwards I help Ryan load up a car onto a dolly for a ride home, but the plans change and his son Cory ends up taking me to the work site where I wait for the others to show up.
Everything in this story involves some kind of inconvenience, whether for me or for someone else. Everything in this story is something I’m thankful for. If I hadn’t been able to wake up at 5:15, I wouldn’t have this small group to go to. If I hadn’t sold my car, I wouldn’t get the chance to know how willing Adam was to pick me up so early in the morning, I wouldn’t have had the chance to help Ryan, and I wouldn’t have had the chance to talk to my good friend Cory who is often over-scheduled with school and work. If I hadn’t had to wait at the worksite, I would have never had the chance to just sit down and think about how thankful I was for all the inconveniences…
In my lacking of a car, of sleep, and of time, I was moved to more thankfulness than I would have had with those things. Through reliance of others, I gained an extra connection into their lives. Coming up soon, when I will be on this journey, there are many comforts that I will be limited to. I will rely on others more and more, and I hope that I will remain thankful in it all. As a spoiled American, I must ask that you pray that I keep this heart of thanksgiving. If all you pray is, “God, remind Joe to be thankful.”, that is enough! I want nothing to hinder the Gospel. So I don’t want my typical way of life to make me look inconsiderate and unthankful.
