Pastor's Pen: Despite Suffering, Thanksgiving

Before the Pilgrims ever set foot on the shores of Plymouth, God was already at work preparing their survival through the most unlikely of instruments, a young Native American named Squanto.

He was born in 1596 in what is now Maine. In 1608, Squanto and others were kidnapped by an English sea captain and taken to Spain. He and his fellow natives were kept in chains below deck for six weeks. They were barely given enough water, raw fish, and stale bread to survive. Arriving in Spain, the captain intended to sell Squanto and the others into slavery, but God intervened.

Some Franciscan friars, protesting the slave trade as a violation of human dignity, paid the money to purchase Squanto out of slavery. They fed him, clothed him, sheltered him, and taught him about Jesus. They explained that the reason they wanted to rescue him was because all of us have been rescued from slavery through Jesus Christ because of his life, his death, and his resurrection. Squanto himself came to know Jesus as his own Lord and Savior.

After about five years in Spain, the friars helped him connect with a shipbuilder and a merchant in London. There he learned English, and eventually found himself on a ship back to the Americas. Arriving home, Squanto experienced another tragedy. His entire village had been wiped out by disease.

In March 1621, Squanto encountered a small, struggling band of English settlers. These were the Pilgrims who traveled on the Mayflower seeking religious freedom in the New World. Only half their number had survived the brutal winter of 1620. His knowledge of English and the survival practices of the local peoples proved to be invaluable. Squanto taught the colonists how to plant corn. He taught them agricultural techniques, such as using fish to fertilize the soil. He taught them where to fish and where to hunt for beaver.

William Bradford, the leader of the colony, later recorded that Squanto, “was a special instrument of God.” Thanks to his efforts, the colonists had a bumper crop and called for a three-day festival of prayer and thanksgiving, which inspired our modern Thanksgiving.

Squanto’s story is not simply one of survival. It is a testimony to how God can redeem even the darkest injustices. Sold into slavery, torn from his home, and orphaned by plague, Squanto nonetheless became a bridge of peace and provision. Like Joseph in Egypt, what others intended for evil, God used for good.

This Thanksgiving, may we remember Squanto’s story and see that God can redeem our suffering. In the Lord’s hands, tragedy can become grace, and even chains can become the path to freedom.

Grace & Peace,

James Hodsden