And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” Luke 22:19 NIV
Today many Americans woke up with the thought that the Thanksgiving holiday is behind them and now the Christmas rush will be on. The thought of being thankful is now a thing of the past unless it’s that we got our Christmas shopping done. How can we go from being grateful and thinking of others who have less to grumbling, complaining and an “every man for himself mentality”? Because we too often choose to forget our blessings and focus on our wants. The bottom line is that being thankful is a choice. The reality of that is if we make the wrong choice, our hearts and minds get calloused and hard. The following true story may help you make the correct one.
Every Friday night on a lonely beach in Florida you would see an old man with a bucket of shrimp feeding the sea gulls. The ritual began as a result of an event that happened in his life in 1942 and continued until his death. That man was Eddie Rickenbacker, at that time the President of Eastern Airlines. He was asked to go on a mission in a B-17 to be an observer about air combat readiness. But somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became hopelessly lost and out of fuel it was ditched into the sea.
Because the plane sank so quickly they were able to take little provisions with them. The eight of them spent many harrowing nights in two nine by five rafts, enduring the scorching sun by day and the shark attacks by night. In spite of their circumstances they continued to have a worship service, pray for deliverance and sing a hymn. As usual after the service they waited and did their best to tolerate the heat. But on the eighth day something miraculous happened, a sea gull came and landed on Eddie’s hat and he just sat there like he was waiting to be caught, and he was without a fight. He provided much needed food and the uneatable parts were used for fishing that provided food long after he was gone. Their spirits were lifted, but their ordeal continued and on the thirteenth day Staff Sgt. Kaczmarczyk who was returning back to his unit in Australia after recovering from a lengthy illness died. The rest spent another grueling eight days adrift at sea. After twenty-one days the remaining seven were rescued.
Eddie never forgot the seemingly willing sacrifice of that sea gull that God provided. Because of the gratitude he felt he chose to remember and thank that bird weekly by feeding those like him many years afterward. When we take communion we think about the sacrifice Jesus willingly made for us so that we would not only be saved but also experience an abundant life. Today take the time to also think about how you can keep showing your gratitude to Him by sharing His amazing grace with others.
You can find the entire account of Eddie Rickenbaker lost at sea at www.historynet.com
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