Giving Thanks in All Things

"In all things give thanks.." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Bengasi Terrorist Attack, Connecticut School Massacre, Boston Marathon Bombing, Factory explosion in Waco… What a year it’s been!  I can’t help but feel conflicted with this subject of thanksgiving. It just seems that every time I open the newspaper I’m staring down at words like: massacre, war zone, pillage, disaster, carnage, terrorism ….. How does one be thankful and find blessings in the midst of hardship!

One student of mine has been sorely tested with hardship this semester.  He’s in his late forties. I’ll call him Joe. Joe is seeking another career after retiring from the military.  He has four children.  His youngest is now off to the university so Joe and his wife are in the empty nest phase.  At least they used to be. Soon after the semester began, Joe’s youngest brother and brother’s wife were in a serious car accident a state away….Joe missed a lot of classes going back and forth to visit them in the hospital.  He looked down trodden each time he returned from his visit.  The outlook for his brother and wife continued to be grim. By mid-semester I received an email informing me his brother had died.  As to the wife, she remains in a vegetative state.  Their two young children, ages two and six, were left behind and are currently living with an 80 year old grandmother.  Soon after brother was buried, Joe and his wife made the decision to raise the children. As of now, the state continues to demand that more paperwork be signed, and fostering classes be taken before they can finally bring the children back to Arizona…... 

Three weeks ago, Joe and his wife were returning their youngest son to ASU from his spring break visit.  On their way home, they drove into the eye of a horrible wind storm.  Joe slammed on his breaks but slid into a semi- truck that had jackknifed into a ditch, which in turn started a chain reaction with six other cars crashing into him.

Joe returned to school this week, limping in late and looking absolutely beaten.  After class, he I and I sat and talked and he updated me on his and his wife’s condition. She was in a neck brace, suffering from severe headaches, and getting ready for surgery on a cracked vertebra.   Joe had just gone in for a CT scan on his knee, and he had a scan scheduled for his stomach.

I told him I didn’t know how he was able to keep going these days. His reply surprised me.  “I feel really tired and sore…but I’m actually also feeling blessed,” he replied, “I loved my little brother and what greater gift could I give to him than watching over his children. My wife and I are also blessed to have family members around us that have volunteered to help out. We feel fortunate.” (‘Fortunate?’ I said to myself, He is feeling fortunate?)He continued, “As to our car accident, we were so blessed that in this huge 8 car pile-up, no one was killed. That’s really a miracle when you think about it.  And we are blessed that we were driving my suburban.   (He was feeling blessed?) He shared that he and his wife had had a lengthy discussion before going out of town about taking her small car because it had much better gas mileage.  My suburban,” he explained, trying to draw out a picture in the air, “ended up in the shape of an ‘L’.  We would  have been killed had we been driving my wife’s car.”

 I asked if they had to wait a long time for the ambulance to arrive.  He said it was a miracle because an ambulance just happened to be passing by when the accident occurred so they were able to get immediate care. (He was talking about a miracle!) He continued, “We were so blessed that we had dropped our son off prior to the accident, so he was not in the back seat.” (He pointed to the L shaped figure in the air, but I looked at the tears in his eyes)

Joe continued, “As you know my wife and I have been impatient, waiting to get my brothers’ children.”  I nodded with a faint smile. “But….” he paused and took a long breath, ”what if we had had them with us in the car that day…………..”

I broke the strain of the silence….and asked him how his CT scan came out. He said he needed surgery, “Thankfully though, (again with the thanks) the surgeon agreed to put it off until later in May, when school is over. Speaking of which,  I want to try and finish up if I can…I mean if you’d be willing to let me try?” 

My throat felt so constricted I couldn’t speak…so I just nodded.

“Yeah,” he said as he stiff rose from the chair, “it’s a hard time for us, but I just can’t help but see God’s blessings all around me.”

 Here standing before me was a living testimony to God’s words. “In all things give thanks.”  No preaching… just living it out.

I sat quietly long after Joe had gone, and tried to soak in this powerful lesson of thanksgiving…….

 “In all things give thanks.”

 

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