Experiences of Michael W. Kinser
(Excerpts from a message on gratitude given at church)
I would like to relate to you several experiences that happened in my life that have helped me appreciate the blessings that have come my way that I am grateful for.
When I was about 20 years old I was out of high school working in a grocery store stocking shelves and packing groceries. I didn’t have a direction in life. I thought that I wanted to work for the FBI so I sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Pittsburgh. After what seemed like a long time I received a letter requesting that I report to the Office of the FBI in Pittsburgh for an interview.
The interview went well, at least I thought so; however, several months later I received a letter stating thanks but no thanks. I didn’t understand why I was turned down, but it came very clear several weeks later when I received another letter, only this time it was from Uncle Sam requesting I appear in Pittsburgh for a physical. I was being drafted. I then realized why the FBI said no, after a background investigation they found out that I was being considered for the draft. It looked like my future was being planned for me. But since a war was taking place in Vietnam, I didn’t like the army uniforms and I didn’t like sleeping in a tent or on the ground, I decided to enlist in the Air Force.
After basic training I was issued orders to go to Korea but at the last minute they were changed to Germany.
When I arrived at the Sembach Airbase and reported in, I was directed to a barracks and a room on the 2nd floor. The room I was assigned to (about 20' x 20') housed 3 other men who were ironing uniforms, spit shining their boots and getting ready for work. While I was transfering my belongings to my assigned locker, there was a knock on the door and a captain stepped in and asked for Airman Kinser. You should have seen the faces on the other three men when the captain, Captain Boyce, said that he was my home teacher and and stopped by to invited me to his house for dinner. When you are alone in a strange environment and you know no one, it is a good feeling to know someone is looking out for you. This is something that I am grateful for and Capt. Boyce and I have shared some good times together. I am grateful for the efforts that Captain Boyce made in doing his home teaching.
One of the men who roomed with me was a black man, Airman Armstrong, kind of a quiet guy who when we were off duty would get dressed and leave the base. None of us knew where he went nor did we want to pry into his private life.
After several weeks of this he told me that he had been going down to Kieserslautern looking for my church and he finally found it and the next opportunity that we had off he loaded me onto a bus and we went to K-town so that I could see where I needed to go on Sundays.
One Sunday when I was at church in K-town there was a man standing by the entrance to the chapel. I though to myself that he seemed different, but I couldn’t determine why. After I shook his hand I stepped into the chapel area and took a seat next to someone that I knew and asked who was that man that everyone was shaking hands with at the door?
I was told that it was an Apostle who was the president of the European Mission. His name was Ezra Taft Benson who in 1985 became President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The opportunities that I have experienced in my lifetime due to the assistance of others has giving me the feeling of gratitude.
We should be thankful for the wonderful blessings that are ours and for the tremendous opportunities we have. We can be thankful to our parents, family, friends, our spouses and teachers.
I am thankful for a loving wife who supports me in the things that I do. She even likes to watch Steeler football. Hey Guys! what more can you ask? We should express appreciation to everyone who has assisted us in any way.
To quote a phrase from a song sung by Petula Clark:
'The other man’s grass is always greener
The sun shines brighter on the other side
The other man’s grass is always greener
Some are lucky, some are not
But just be thankful for what you got.'
Years ago a wealthy English family was entertaining friends at their home. As the children swam one ventured into the deep water and began to drown. The gardner heard the other children screaming and jumped into the water and saved the child. The youngsters name was Winston Churchhill. Deeply grateful to the gardner, the parents asked how they could ever repay him. He hesitated, but then said, “I wish my son could go to college someday to be a doctor.”
“He will” said Churchhill’s parents. “We will pay his way.” Years later when Sir Winston was Prime Minister, he became ill with pneumonia. The best physican the king could find was called to the bedside
of the ailing leader. His name was Sir Alexander Flemming, the developer of penecillin,
and the son of that gardner who long ago saved a drowning Winston. Churchhill later said, “Rarely has a man owed his life twice to the same person.” As believers we owe a debt of gratitude and service to the Lord.
D&C 59:7 "Thou shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things."
All things means just that: good things, difficult things, not just some things.
Gratitude requires awareness and effort, not only to feel it but to express it. Frequently, we are oblivious to the Lord’s hand. We murmur, complain, resist, criticize, so often we are not grateful.
Luke chapter 17 records the experience of the Savior when He healed 10 lepers. As you recall, only one of the cleansed lepers returned to express his appreciation. Isn’t it interesting that the Lord did not say, “Your gratitude made you whole”? Instead, He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.”
The leper’s expression of gratitude was recognized by the Savior as an expression of his faith.
As we pray and express gratitude to a loving but unseen Heavenly Father, we are also expressing our faith in Him. Gratitude is our sweet acknowledgment of the Lord’s hand in our lives; it is an expression of our faith.