On Sunday I had the opportunity to speak at a church that I hadn’t been to before.
I wasn’t sure where to park so found a spot around the back and went on inside.

After the service there was a lot of commotion outside around the area of my car so I went to check it...dreading what I might find.
I didn’t know until just then but I had actually parked beside the worship leaders car...and his car had been damaged during the service by someone trying to break into it.

I drove away eventually not sure how I felt…
On one hand I felt bad for the guy.
I couldn’t understand why they attacked his car and not mine.
On the other hand I was thankful they hadn’t attacked mine.
At the same time I felt guilty for being thankful….
Aaaah!...how am I supposed to think?

In America this weekend they celebrate a holiday around being thankful called thanksgiving day.
It was started many years ago by some immigrants who were very thankful for what God had done for them. They had been through many hardships and were even still going through many. But they took the time out to focus on what had done for them so far.

Martin Rinkert lived in the town of Eilenburg in Germany 350 years ago.
The son of a poor coppersmith, he became a minister of his local parish in 1617.
Just one year later, in 1618, the Thirty-Year War broke out and Eilenburg was caught right in the middle of it. In 1637, the plague that swept across the continent hit Eilenburg and it is recorded that over 50 people died each day. The man called upon to bury most of the corpses was Martin Rinkert.
In all, over 8,000 people died, including Martin’s own wife, but his job was to keep on digging graves. His ministry spanned 32 years and all but the first and the last were overwhelmed by the great conflict that engulfed his town. It must have been tough for Martin Rinkert to be thankful. But somehow he was…he even managed to write this hymn?

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices;
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom his world rejoices.

In the midst of terrible darkness and death Martin Rinkert was able to write these words because he knew what it meant to be truly thankful.

Maybe it is not that we are ignoring the things that have gone wrong…it is just that focusing on what has gone right stops the bad things having the same power over us.
In the midst of whatever you have been through recently...
I am sure you have something you can thank God for!

Locky