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Giving Thanks In All Things

“Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” I Thessalonians 5:18

    In all things?  Is that right…to give thanks in all things?  You’ve got to be kidding me.  Exactly what does that mean?

    Sometimes God sends his answers to those so very hard questions in the form of examples…through the lives of people.

    I got some wonderful news a few weeks ago.  My good friend Michael Simmons’ son was declared free of the seizures that had gripped his body for the past several years.  This was truly the answer to the prayers of many who had lifted up Cade and his seizures to God. 

    Now when I say friend, I should mention that I coached Michael in high school.  Upon attending college, he went into teaching and coaching and coached with me for several years before becoming the head football coach at West Point High School where I was principal.  So when I say friend, I mean great friend and I am sure you can identify with the meaning of that phrase.  Since those high school years when I first met him, Michael has exemplified the meaning of “living for Christ.”  He and his wife Tammy are rock solid Christians who have touched the lives of many young people.  When their son Cade began having the seizures, many in our community lifted this wonderful family in our prayers.

    One of the most difficult times in Cade’s illness was during a football season where West Point, where Michael coached, played Brewer, where I happened to be coaching after I retired as principal at West Point .  I cannot imagine the difficulty Michael was having, trying to coach a team while at the same time dealing with Cade’s all too often seizures and sometimes hospitalization.  On this particular night, Brewer won, but when both teams met in the center of the field for prayer, there was little celebration by Brewer, the team I was coaching.  I had told our players about the obstacles the Simmons family was facing and we had prayed for Cade at several of our practices.  On this night, these two football teams forgot scoreboards and the “things of this world” and prayed for the health of a little boy and for a mom and dad to have the strength to give God thanks in the midst of heartache and pain.

    I will never forget that night…those two teams praying on that field…one for their coach and the other for their coach’s friend.  On that night, the differences of jersey color and school loyalties simply faded away and in their places grew the love of one for another through Christ. 

     From the very beginning of Cade’s illness, Michael and Tammy never stopped giving God thanks for all things, even in the most difficult of circumstances, and their example has answered all my questions about what I Thessalonians 3:18 means when it says to “give God thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.” 

    We give God thanks…win or lose…good or bad…for He has given us  hope through Jesus Christ…hope that never fails.  “Nothing can separate us from the love of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

    And now the seizures are gone and Cade is doing wonderfully.  In fact, we all should be for we are in His hands….thanks be to God…in all things!!

In Christ,
Billy

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