Gratitude

I've been reading a biography of Henry Knox for the last few days. He was one of Gen. Washington's revolutionary generals and pretty much ran the artillery for the entirety of the war. To me, he's a fascinating guy. His dad abandoned his Boston family when Henry was 9 so his Mom put him to work in a book store to help with the family expenses. Henry worked hard, studied the military books in the bookstore and taught himself French. At 26, my age, he was a brigadier general opposing the World's most accomplished military force and Washington's most trusted staffer. At a time when the war was nearly lost for the new American force, Henry took some of his men and made a 600 mile round trip in the snow to Fort Ticonderoga to get the much needed heavy artillery. With those guns, he lead the assault to take back Boston and for the first time gave Americans a reason to think that they might actually be able to win. The liberation of Boston boosted enlistments for Washington and gave the Continental Congress the nationwide support needed for independence. Knox's trip to get the Ticonderoga guns is perhaps the most important single incident in the early history of our nation.

Is it coincidence that Henry's father abandoned his family which formed in Knox a need to prove himself in order to rebuild his family name? Is it just happenstance that he was forced to go to work in a bookstore surrounded by volumes of military tactics and training? I see in his story a great deal of providence and I'm thankful to the Great Planner for guiding our steps.