“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, NIV).

     The wrong preposition can lead to the wrong interpretation. In the brief passage above Paul states, “Give thanks IN all circumstances” (NIV). Note that Paul doesn’t tell the church to give thanks FOR all circumstances.

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8, NIV).

     I am a planner. I write out in detail the lessons I will teach to a class. I map out the route to a destination with which I am unfamiliar on MapQuest. I prepare an itinerary of my activities
every day.

“Do for others what you want them to do for you: this is the meaning of the Law of Moses and of the teachings of the prophets” (Matthew 7:12, GNT).

     They say that necessity makes strange bed fellows. Who would conceive that a tarantula and a frog would become faithful friends? It’s true. Microhylids, or narrow-mouth frogs, live with tarantulas and feed on the tiny insects that burrow into the ground and eat the spiders’ eggs.

The next day Jesus wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth.” Nathanael responded, “Can anything from Nazareth be good?” Philip said, “Come and see”                   (John 1:43-46, MSG).

     Phillip intrigues me. On one hand, Phillip becomes one of Jesus’ disciples without hesitation. Phillip possesses enough confidence in Jesus to introduce his friend, Nathaniel, to Jesus.

“There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens…a time for searching and a time for losing, a time for keeping and a time for throwing away” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 & 6, CEB).