Thankfulness

Today is a day we set aside to really give thanks to the Almighty for the blessings in our lives.  We have so much to be thankful for it is really hard to even start listing them... but I'll try.  First and foremost, we're thankful for the price paid by Jesus Christ that gave us our salvation.  We're thankful for our family and friends and fellow believers at our church.  We're thankful for our country and the freedoms we have.  We're thankful for real food, a roof over our head, our health, and our little piece of land in the country.


Real food that's real good!

While we're talking about Thanksgiving, I wanted to share something with you that has very little to do with farming, homesteading or anything we do, but it has everything to do with true thankfulness, true faith who we should aspire to be.  I heard the following story that I'll paraphrase below on an American Family Radio broadcast several months ago and the remarkable story has just stuck with me.  It is a story of real Faith.  A story of the attitude of Thanksgiving.  A story that both inspires me on the one hand and makes me and my faith feel so puny on the other.

It was 1994.  Scott Willis was serving as pastor of the Parkview Baptist Church in Chicago.  He and his wife put their six kids in their mini van to go on a trip to Milwaukee.  As they were driving down the interstate, a car in front of them swerved in order to avoid a piece of metal that had fallen off of a truck.  In the next instant, Pastor Willis saw the piece of metal in the road, but he didn't have time to avoid it.  The mini-van struck it and the metal punctured the gas tank, exploding their minivan into a fiery inferno.  Five of the Willis children were burned to death within a few seconds and the sixth lasted one more day before he died. Pastor Willis and his wife Janet barely got out of the vehicle and could do nothing but watch in horror.

The Chicago Tribune quoted the Willis' in a press conference given by Pastor Scott Willis and his wife Janet, hands bandaged, their faces bearing the marks of the flames, “There are only two possible responses to the kind of loss that Scott and Janet suffered last week. Utter despair or unquestioning faith. For the Willis', despair was never an option. ‘I know God has purposes and God has reasons,’ said Scott Willis, explaining how he and his wife had been able to cope with the death of six of their nine children in a freak accident earlier this month on a Milwaukee freeway. ‘God has demonstrated his love to us and our family. There is no question in our minds that God is good, and we praise him in all things.’ His wife, Janet, said, ‘He’s the giver and taker of life, and he sustains us.’  In the accident, six of their children died: Ben, 13; Joe, 11; Sam, 9; Hank, 7; Elizabeth, 3; and little Peter, just six weeks old.”

I cannot even imagine.  I don't even know what to say.  This is what Pastor Willis said,

“There is no question in our minds that God is good, and we praise him in all things.”

This godly couple watched as their six children were consumed by flames before their very eyes and they never questioned God, they never wavered in their faith, they never struggled with bitterness.  Instead they exercised complete and utter trust in God, even praising Him and thanking Him.  Again, I don't know what to say.

This Thanksgiving our family sat at the table and thanked God for the blessings He's given us.  We are commanded to give thanks in everything.  (Philippians 4:6)  You've heard that verse a million times.  But 'everything' including the events that the Willis family endured?  That is a high hill to climb, a big pill to swallow.

In reading more about this incident, I ran across the following quote from www.keepbelieving.com in a sermon by Dr. Ray Pritchard:

I know a family in South Chicago where there will be six empty chairs around the table this Thursday. It is hard even to think about that. Pastor Willis, what is it you said? “God has demonstrated his love to our family. There is no question in our minds that God is good, and we praise him in all things.” Either that man has lost his mind, or he has found his faith. I’ll be honest, I don’t know what I would say if it were my three boys taken in a fiery death. I suppose in that moment, God gives grace for what you have to bear, and whatever strength you have to have.

“There is no question in our minds that God is good and we praise him for all things.”

As I said earlier this type of faith inspires me and humbles me.  In thinking about the Willis Family as our family gave thanks to God today, I realized just how blessed we are.  Many days we belly-ache and feel sorry for our minor inconveniences and trials we suffer.  But no sir, my trials and tribulations are light afflictions, momentary nuisances compared to the burden and loss that others experience.  As I go to bed tonight in comfort, with a full stomach, with my family near me healthy and safe, I truly give thanks to our Maker who has seen fit to bless our family much more than we deserve.