Every time I Think of What God Has Done I am Thankful
Every time I think of you, I thank God. Stop for a moment and think about this. Who does that remind you of? One young summer afternoon when I was thirteen, the boys in my neighborhood decided we would go to the store to get ice cream. In those days a single cone cost five cents and a triple was fifteen cents. We were about to ride our bikes when someone suggested we take our skateboards. Skateboards were still a new thing in those days. They had become popular for just a few years and kids had just started riding them in empty pools and all kinds of new tricks were being talked about. I was not a good skateboarder, and I had just made a plexiglass board in shop class, but the wheels and trucks needed adjusting so I decided to take my other board.
As we started on our way one of the young guys started complaining because he didn’t have a board. He decided he would just walk and meet us there so, I gave him my board, and I ran home and got the new board I had made, but had not used yet. As we got to Thrifty’s, the parking lot had a slope down to the store and we were all coasting down it. I was behind the whole group because I was really not comfortable with the board. Just as we got to the end of the parking lot a car turned up my path but I didn’t see it because I was looking down. As I looked up it startled me, and at the same time, I hit a speed bump and my board flew out from under me. I landed flat on my back. It knocked the wind out of me and I jumped up trying to breath. People started jumping out of their cars to help me and one particular man got to me first. He insisted that I lay flat on my back and he wouldn’t take no for an answer. As it turned out that became critical aid for my injury as I later discovered I had crushed my number six vertebrae.
Paul is Thankful for Friends
In Philippians 1:3 Paul writes these words to the church. Every time I think of you, I thank God. For some of us we have been reading the Bible for so long all we can see is the Apostle Paul writing to the Church in Philippi. What we need to see is a man writing to his friends. Paul was in one of the most challenging seasons of his life. He was in prison and there was a good chance he would never get out alive. His friends were so concerned about him they sent someone to check on him and help him in any way. Paul was not well liked and so any friend of his could be putting their own life in jeopardy. But, these friends had proven over and over again to be trustworthy. They had provided for Paul on numerous occasions when no one else had done it, and when he didn’t even ask for it. With all of the people Paul had helped over the years it seems surprising he only had this faithful group constantly checking on him and putting themselves in harms way on his behalf.
He writes them to thank them and to update them as he is sending back the man whom they had sent to help him. This man also almost died having become sick sometime during his time with Paul. Its a letter of thanks, but its filled with treasures about how these friends truly understood Paul. They are just as committed to Christ as he is and they are willing to do whatever it takes to see the gospel increased and Paul wants to acknowledge that this group has the kind of passion he also carries, but they are the kind of friends he believes God is using in a special way. He is convinced God will do something great through them and he writes to let them know that God will complete his work in them. He just wanted to tell them that every time he thinks of them he thanks God for putting them in his life.
Thanking God for the Times He Cared for Me Without My Knowledge
This week as we thank God for being unlike anything else in our lives. Can you think of others whom when you think of them you thank God. Throughout my life I have thought back on that day when I was thirteen. I have thought what would have happened that day if that man wasn’t there to insist I lay down while he called the Paramedics. In those days there was no 911 and no cell phones. I thank God every time I think of this man. I never even knew his name. I thank God for all the times in my life where he was taking care of me even when I didn’t know it or understand it. There have been many other times where at the exact time I needed something it was there. I thank God every time I think of those times. It’s yet one more reason to thank him!