A young man from a wealthy family was about to graduate from high school. It was custom in that affluent neighborhood for the parents to give the graduate an automobile. Bill and his father had spent months looking at cars, and the week before graduation they found the perfect car. Bill was certain that the car would be his on graduation night.

Imagine his dissapointment when, on the eve of his graduation, Bill's father handed him a gift wrapped Bible! Bill was so angry, he threw the Bible down and stormed out of the house. He and his father never saw each other again. It was the news of his father's death that brought Bill home again.

As he sat one night, going through his father's possesions that he was to inherit, he came across the Bible his father had given him. He brushed away the dust and opened it to find a cashier's check, dated the day of his graduation, in the exact amount of the car they had chosen.

Reading this makes me remember this verse,

"Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." - 1 Th 5:18 (NIV)