William Bradford suffered!  He led the pilgrims who started Plymouth Colony.  His band left England in two ships, but one wasn’t seaworthy, so the group had to turn back, losing valuable time.  Everyone then ended up on the Mayflower.   One hundred and two people were shoved below deck in an area the size of a tennis court, living on the sea for seven weeks.

On November 10, the pilgrims arrived at Cape Cod and found a bleak, cold, barren land.

On December 21, Bradford sailed with fifteen men in a small boat from Cape Cod to search for a good land for the colony.  They arrived at a perfect bay with fresh water supplied by four springs.  Twenty acres had been carved out by the Patuxet tribe, but now no one lived there.  The Native Americans, decimated by plagues, had decided that the Great Spirit had claimed the land.

The group rushed back to Cape Cod to tell the others of the discovery.

At Cape Cod Bradford was told that his wife had fallen overboard from the Mayflower and drowned.  He had to wonder if she had committed suicide in this bleak, freezing land.

That first winter, one of the coldest in New England history, almost half the pilgrims died.

In mid-March a Native American, Samoset, brought Squanto into the group to teach it how to survive. Nevertheless, surrounded by unmarked graves, the pilgrims must’ve been tempted to return to England.  But when the Mayflower began to return to England on April 1, all the pilgrims chose to stay at Plymouth!

Where did they get the courage to stay? 

They believed in a sovereign God who determined their lives.  They learned to give thanks for the things God provided.  They embraced what Squanto taught them, and they kept the colony alive, thus carving out a new nation whose 250^th birthday we’re celebrating.

Sunday I’m preaching on “Securely Give Thanks” from Ephesians 1:13-23.  We’ll look at “Be Secure,” verses 13-14; and “Pray with Thanksgiving,” verses 15-23.

It may be raining Sunday, but come anyway!  Think about what the pilgrims endured so we could worship in a free nation!

Love,

Jim Meek