Skylar's Blog & Podcast

How many of you have heard those words?... Time after time we are faithfully reminded by our parents to say thank you when someone does something nice for you or to you. Yet, in our wisdom as little children we decide this is something that should not be done; so, to rebel we grit our teeth, make the most uncomfortable face ever and say "Thank you" with as much regret and disdain in our voice as we can muster. That way the person we're saying thank you too will know NEVER to do anything nice for us ever again, unless he would like the masterfully degrading "Thank you" once more. Have you ever said thank you to someone for doing something mean or initially bad to you. For example, you're standing with your friends in line for lunch and you're very hungry. However, the young lad in front of you decides to let his friend sneak in and cut right in front of you. Have you ever had the urge to say, "Thank you sirs for cutting in front of me. Allow me to express my appreciation for that kind gesture." I didn't think so. The same thing happens with God. Things go well and we thank Him, but if things in our life don't go as planned or even horribly wrong it never really crosses our mind to thank God. Here's a story of someone in the Bible who had a rough go at life for bit of time: his name was Job, and he had everything you could ever want at that time. He had a wife, kids, cattle, a new IPod touch, all sorts of good things were happening to Job. Then one day it was all taken away from him. His kids were killed in a freak accident where the house they were in fell apart, his servants were killed by foreign armies, and all of his livestock was killed as well. So, let's imagine you lost everything: you're house caught fire and burned down, you're parents have decided to abandon you in light of losing the house, and on top of all that your dog and/or cat dies. How would you respond? This is how Job did: