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I had one of “those” weekends this last weekend. It was one of those weekends that make you thankful for the arrival of Monday. It was also one of those weekends that really get you thinking about life and how to approach it.

Early Saturday evening my daughter comes running in to the house screaming for the number to animal control. Apparently there was a sick animal in the neighborhood and one of the ladies down the street told them to go call someone who could take care of it. Before they went off on a panic-ridden dialing frenzy I decided to check out the situation myself, I mean there’s no sense in calling 911 unless it is absolutely necessary.

I walked down the street and saw the animal. It was a young groundhog, staggering and falling. It was obviously very sick with rabies. I went back to the house and called 911 then went back to keep an eye on the animal to make sure when the police showed up they would be able to find it. Something told me to take a garbage can with me, in retrospect, I’m glad I listened!!

The groundhog started taking off so I tried to scare it back to the area where it had been occupying. Instead, the animal started running at me in a very aggressive manner. Here I was, a grown man wearing shorts and sandals, being chased up and down the street by a rabid groundhog. Finally I used the garbage can and trapped the animal until the police arrived and “dispatched” it to groundhog heaven.

Sunday, I got pulled over while driving my new scooter. It seems the officer mistook my swerving to avoid all the ruts in the road (and the dead raccoon) with being drunk. After reading me the riot act on how I’m to stay on the right side of the road, regardless of what I hit, he let me go.

Later that day, while working my second job (merchandiser for a bread company. I go to stores and stock the shelves) my scooter ran out of gas at least 2 – 3 miles from the nearest station!!

Like I said…one of “those” weekends. But as they say (whomever “they” are) hindsight is 20-20. Unfortunately, we tend to use that only when we second-guess a decision we should have made to avoid some negative consequence. While I was grousing and complaining to myself about how lousy a weekend this was and wallowing in my self-pity, that still small voice spoke to me again. This time it said “why not try looking at the positive parts of these events instead of dwelling on the negative aspects?”

I started thinking about the animal incident. Even though there was a very real danger, I didn’t get hurt. Even more importantly, my going out there and drawing the attention of the critter may have kept one of the dozen or so kids playing in the neighborhood from getting injured. God made sure I had that trash can in my hand and gave me the will and the power to use it at the right time. This was a good thing after all.

While the Police Officer pulled me over (and frankly DID act kind of like a jerk) he didn’t give me a ticket, or harass me any more than he did. It was also good to get some of the actual law as it pertains to riding scooters (if you can’t hit the speed limit just stay to the right, don’t go in the lane…). Later, when I ran out of gas, there was a pickup truck with two perfect strangers inside who stopped to help me. They lifted my scooter in to the back of the truck and gave me a ride to the nearest gas station. They didn’t ask for anything in return, but simply did so out of the goodness of their hearts.

The Apostle Paul tells us to focus on whatever is good, noble and true. In Monty Python terms “Always look on the bright side of life.” Turning my thought process on its head and focusing on the positive aspects of these incidents was a very good exercise, an exercise that I hope to develop in to a habit. It was easy this time, because the cause and effect were fairly immediate, and able to be assessed within a day. Sometimes, however these things take years before the light bulb smacks you upside the head.

Ten years ago, on November 6, 1999 I was fired from what would be my last job in radio. I was devastated and openly questioned God’s motivation. I mean, my wife and I were just starting a family; I was fired the day before my daughter’s first birthday. What reason could there possibly have been? It took a number of years before I started to fully realize the significance and the positive nature of that firing. In fact, it turned out to be one of the best things to ever happen to me professionally. Getting fired, and spending the next 8 ½ months on unemployment, working odd jobs here and there, forced me to realize that that business was not stable enough to support a family. In addition, it gave me much more time with my infant daughter than I ever would have had otherwise.

I finally did find full-time work, and I just celebrated my 9^th anniversary with this employer and I have never been happier.

Maybe that’s what Paul means when he admonishes us to be thankful in everything. It is easy to be thankful when you know what you are thankful for. It takes faith and trust in God to be thankful, especially in the difficult times. But know that even if you don’t know what you’re thanking God for now…you will find something to be thankful for in the future.