[Note: reposted from 12/27/07]
I must admit I wasn’t thrilled when Jan called from the U.S. to tell me the airport was closed due to the weather. I would be at least a day late getting home after a one-week mission trip that had drained me emotionally. I had two options. #1–The airline would fly me to Houston with no guarantees for a connecting flight. #2–Stay in Tegucigalpa, Honduras since the airline would rewrite the ticket for the next day at no charge.
…Hmmm. Given that I have more friends in Tegucigalpa than I do in Houston, the decision was easy. As much as I was anticipating being home and seeing Jan, I would wait 24 hours.
As a result of the delay, I spent the extra evening in Honduras with a group of Baxter Institute students who were forming a missionary/church planting team to the Dominican Republic. I wish you could meet Eulalio and Sarah. They will be the first phase of the team–-Dominicans arriving in the Dominican. Eulalio and Sarah just graduated from Baxter. He has an evangelistic heart, fervor and intensity about him. He has been directly responsible for teaching and baptizing 186 people in the last 2 1/2 years. I am sure that God is going to continue to bless this team with a great heart for God.
After dinner, we sang–-in Spanish, songs with too many words that went by too fast for the notes. Another English-speaking brother and I regaled them with an extra fast rendition of “I’ve got the wonderful love of my blessed Redeemer way down deep in the depths of my heart.” We laughed, until we cried. We prayed. We dreamed and planned. They asked advice; I served as advisor and consultant for the infant team. We talked about the early stages, about the need for developing leaders.
As the evening grew late but eventually wound down about 11 p.m., one of the brothers in the group said that my presence with them that evening was a “God thing.” Yes, even in my 24-hour delayed departure from Honduras, God was blessing events that did not go as we had planned. He was opening doors, controlling events, making new connections possible, equipping for the future. They asked if I could come and help them with leadership matters in a year or so. They said that if I could come, that would be another “God thing.”
God, we thank you for “God things.” We thank you when you act in our lives and we can see you at work. We also thank you when you work behind the scenes and work for good in our lives, and we do not even notice. Help us by faith to see you in all of your grandeur and splendor and presence.