Thanksgiving week has got to be the best week of the year, don’t you think?  At least, it’s got to be right up there with Christmas, Halloween, and Mardi Gras, right?  Thanksgiving involves something wonderful - anticipation.  Much planning also takes place, perhaps involving communicating with the guests regarding who is bringing what, and what time the feast will be served.   The anticipation, the preparation, the wonderful smells, the amazing tastes, the gathering of family and friends, the eating, the napping followed by more eating, the sharing, the caring, the love that seems to fold over everyone and everything like a warm, snuggly blanket on a cold night.  Yes, I love Thanksgiving.

And yet, even as I type this, the news of the horror in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Sunday afternoon continues to come in, seemingly getting worse with each report.  I am picturing families for whom pain and shock and grief, and perhaps rage, will fold over everyone and everything, like a blanket made of thorns.  There will be empty places at tables.  There may not even be a table this year because the shock of the loss is still too great.  How can there be thankfulness in these homes?

In other homes, there will be thankfulness, but it will be muted by survivors’ guilt.  “How is it that our loved one lived while others died?  Can we really rejoice and raise up prayers of gratitude when we know that others are overcome by grief?  When it could have just as easily been our family facing a staggering loss?”

And maybe in the homes of those who died and in the homes of those who lived, the same question is being asked – perhaps silently, perhaps loudly – “Where was God?”

Well preacher?  What’s the answer?

I wish I had the answer. 

But here’s something I know.  Some of you will remember a wonderful friend of our church congregation, Larry Mudd, who came here a few years ago and presented a couple of sermons in which he took on the personality of a Bible character.  At that time, Larry was serving as the associate pastor at The Manhattan Church of Christ in New York City.  A couple of years ago, Larry moved to Oshkosh, Wisconsin to become the pastor of the Oakhaven Church of Christ.  Oshkosh, probably the last place I would have guessed Larry might go, is located not too far from both Waukesha and Kenosha, Wisconsin – places that have been in the news because of difficult and troubling events – something I am sure Larry never anticipated when he left the lights and excitement of New York City for the calm and slow pace of the green acres of Wisconsin.

Without hearing from Larry at all, I know in my spirit that he has been providing wonderful spiritual healing, both to his flock at Oakhaven, and to the communities around him in these troubling times.  I believe that he was being prepared for such service during his years with the Manhattan Church.  And I believe that The Spirit then led him to, of all places, Oshkosh Wisconsin so that he would be in a position to help and serve people caught up in the events that have captured the focus of our Nation. 

So, where was God on Sunday evening in Waukesha, Wisconsin, when evil struck?  He was there, and He had already prepared and placed His servants where they could bring help and comfort and peace to people in need in that place.  And for that, I am thankful.         

But it does raise a couple of questions.  What is God preparing you and me for now?  Are we going to be ready to serve when the time comes? 

Maybe we should take some time during this wonderful Thanksgiving week to thank God for His servants all over the world, and thank Him for the plans He has for us – plans for service that we probably have not, and cannot anticipate.   

Ambrose Ramsey | Shepherd