God Willing

Years ago, when I was selling insurance for a living, I asked a client how he was set for life insurance. “Oh, I’m going to live a long time yet, God willing,” he replied, and then leaned forward and rapped his knuckles on my desk. I was reminded of his “God willing, knock on wood” theology some years later, while reading the account of a hunter who had killed a once-in-a-lifetime deer. According to the hunter’s own account, his success wasn’t due to experience or hard work or knowledge of the woods; he just sat down at the edge of a field, and a big buck showed up. “God put the deer in the right spot,” he said. “It was just dumb luck.” I appreciate his humility, but his theology! I can’t decide whether to laugh or cry. Of the millions of God’s blessings that we enjoy each day, not one is dumb luck. They are all designed intentionally for us from a God who loves us. “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,” wrote James. “There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice,” added John Calvin. Our natural tendency, unfortunately, is to forget to notice these blessings, forget where they come from, or forget to give thanks for them. So while I’m thinking of it, let me take the opportunity to be thankful for just a few things. Thank you, Lord, for all the good friends I’ve had in my life who have encouraged, challenged, and appreciated me, and made me a better person than I could ever have been without them. Thank you even more for my family—my parents and siblings, my wife and kids. Thank you, God, that today I have no toothache. For weeks after my last toothache, I thanked you every morning when I woke up without pain. It’s been too long since I said it, but I’m still grateful: Thank you that I don’t have a toothache today! Thank you for all the particular blessings of the different places in the world in which you’ve allowed me to live—Michigan, Texas, Nebraska, Romania, Spain. Each place unique, each with its own challenges and blessings. In Spain, I encountered gazpacho. I’ve always heard it referred to as cold soup, but everyone in Pamplona treated it as a beverage—like V8, only tasty. Drinking gazpacho after a long run is like being breathed on by Aslan. Thank you, Lord, for gazpacho! And thank you for unanswered prayers. As I look back and think of the things I wanted so badly, I shudder to think what life would have been like if you had given them to me. Thank you for telling me “No.” Thank you, God, for the millions of blessings I haven’t named, for every single deliberate, intentional blessing you’ve ever sent. Not one was dumb luck. Pastor Luke Veldt Cornerstone Church

Thanks To All

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