There was no doubt in my heart that
God was leading me to pursue a pastoral position in the church. Minnesota was not on my list of places to
look. I wanted to go east. As we returned the call to entertain our
curiosity, we discovered that the call was actually from a regional office but
the church was in western Illinois. That
was still not what I had in mind. At
first, I was quick to say no, but God would not give up so easily. I was reminded of the words of a friend who I
confided in, “Keep checking doors, keep checking doors, and when God shuts it,
keep it shut. If he keeps it open, keep
walking until He shuts it”. I had shut
the door, God did not, I did.
A few days later I was in
conversations with a church in Michigan that wanted me to preach. They were concerned because they were afraid
they could not afford me. My reply to
them was simply, “God will take care if it”.
He did. We were blessed
financially beyond our wildest dreams.
One thing that I have learned in my journey is that God in His vast
infinite wisdom will oftentimes provide for our needs and care for our
necessities through the unlikeliest of sources.
Michigan was another example of that.
We received a $100 gas card which could be used across the US and a
visit to the post office for my daily mail revealed a financial blessing just 3
days after our return from Michigan. It
seemed to be an affirmation from God saying, “I’ve got you taken care of”.
What about the call from
Minnesota? After much prayer and
counsel, I returned to the door that I had shut and to my surprise saw that it
was still open. I was scheduled to visit
the church two weeks after I spoke in Michigan.
God was lining up opportunities and opening doors for us as we sought
His will. We were humbled by His
immeasurable grace in our lives. Our
family of five, much like every church I visited and preached were planning for
another weekend trip, this time, for the first time, we were going west.
Two
days before our departure, my wife called me.
There was a problem with the van.
My heart sunk. As I had her to
explain to me what was happening, it was obvious the van would not make the
trip west. I prayed. There were three options. The first option was to cancel the trip. I knew immediately this was not a viable
option. To do so would be to cancel the
plans God has establish for our family.
The second option was for me to go alone in my truck. I have never gone anywhere alone and was not
necessarily up for another trip alone.
Also, it was an important weekend for my family and we knew that all five
of us needed to go. That lead us to our
third option and one we chose. Get the
van repaired. It wasn’t cheap. I did not expect it to be. There was one thing I knew. God would take care of us. He has continued to do so; we could not
expect any less. Friday morning, snow
flurries trickled around us as the van was taken in for repairs. I studied my message for Sunday and spent
much in prayer about God’s will. I was
so excited about preaching, just like I am in every service, that I forgot the
other purpose of the visit. Is God
leading us there?
On
Saturday morning we awoke to a bitterly cold February morning. A gusty wind compounded the freezing air as
we loaded up the van. The ground was
lightly coated with Mother Nature’s wintry coating of snow. With the five of us, inside and the heat
cranked up a few notches; we bowed our heads and prayed. Slowly, we backed our van down the icy
driveway and navigated the unpaved village roads to the main road that had long
since been plowed. We turned our
direction west.
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