“The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way.” Psalm 37:23
This summer, I had the distinct pleasure of accompanying a group of children, including my grandchildren, to a Christian camp in northern Michigan. It is a very prayed over place, where the Spirit of the Lord is evident in the leaders and counselors. The speaker for the junior high kids was Pastor Ken, a prolific storyteller who kept the children on the edge of their seats with his heart warming stories. His subject that night was “The Sovereignty of God” from Romans 8-11 and how we should submit to the sovereignty of God even when bad things happen to us. For the believer, God is always doing something good!
He told the story of his Uncle Arthur, a retired man who lived in upstate New York. His daughter and husband were missionaries in Alaska and Uncle Arthur spent part of the year with them. One autumn, he packed up his van and with his dog, crossed the western United States and up the AlCan Highway to Alaska. He left Newark on Wednesday morning, and by 11:00 pm, Sunday, he was in Whitehorse on the Yukon River. It was as if he made every light all across the US, until he was 30 miles from the Alaska border. Then he could not seem to get going!
It was raining, he had to wait for his breakfast. At the restaurant, he forgot to get an egg for his poodle and travel companion, Mickey, so had to turn around and go back. He got held up. As he drove along the highway, he said to the Lord, “Lord, I don’t know what you have in mind for me, but I’m here to serve you.” As soon as that prayer escaped his lips, he came over a rise in the road and there in front of him was a prop airplane, sitting in the middle of the highway! He got out of the van, walked up to the plane and what do you think are the chances that he would know the pilot? He said, “Well, hello Jim!”
“Art, what brings you out this way?” the pilot asked. Uncle Art replied, “I have a feeling the Lord sent me.” Jim worked in the Christian school where Art’s daughter worked and they had met on a previous occasion. He had flown to Ohio to pick up two ladies to help in the school. Jim had a broken propeller and had to make an emergency landing. They had gotten out of the plane and were praying about what to do, when Uncle Art drove over the hill!
He said, “Have the ladies put their things in the van and I will drive them the 200 miles to Anchorage.” The prop plane was later repaired. On their journey, they were able to help a lady whose pick-up truck rolled over an embankment, and a man stranded by the side of the road. After fixing his battery cable, they all stopped for a steak dinner, compliments of the driver of the pickup truck! Uncle Art would tell that story over and over to illustrate the adventure it is to invest your life in the service of Christ. “For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose,” Romans 8:28. God is always at work doing something for our blessing, even when circumstances seem to point in the opposite direction. He wants to use us for His glory! We don’t have to know the way, we only need to trust Him! “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out,” Romans 11:33.
Your friend, Jean