God's Wonderful Surprises

This past week was mostly spent in Maryland, visiting Brent's side of the family and speaking at two churches there. Our time there was wonderful!

Wednesday evening's service with Frederick First Church of the Nazarene was a great time to be with family and friends that Brent had known while his father was an associate pastor there some years ago. They were all so encouraging, and lifted us up in prayer at the close of the service. We were also surprised to meet two people who had very close connections to Swaziland.

Pastor Rob Merki's father had served several years at the hospital in Manzini, Swaziland -- right where we will be living! He had some wonderful stories and helpful tips about life there. Another church member, Eunice Rockwell, had lived in Swaziland for five years in hte 1960's, serving as a nurse in the hospital and traveling to clinics. I was especially astounded to hear that I had already read about her in a missionary book. Dorothy Bevill Eby had written about Eunice in one of her stories in the book Wherever God Plants Us!

Eunice had an accordion that she carried with her and played at the "tree Sunday schools" that they established out in the bush before churches were built. The accordion would attract so many children and they would sing to it. Eunice told me that one of the little boys who became a Christian at one of the Sunday schools is now serving as a District Superintendent there in Swaziland! I could see the tears of joy glistening in her eyes as she told me this -- and I'm sure I had some too!

The surprises did not end there, however. In attendance that evening were Brent's Aunt Karen and Uncle Kurt, who lived about 40 minutes away in Hagerstown, MD. After the service they asked if we could also speak at their church in Hagerstown at their Saturday evening service. I had to preach Sunday morning at our home church in Mt. Vernon, so we hesitated a bit before saying yes. But I'm so glad we agreed to!

Saturday evening we spoke at a Nazarene new start church in Hagerstown, called Hope Bridge Church, pastored by Pete Zerphy. What a wonderful evening! The passion their people have for the lost is exciting, and very evident. That evening a lady named Gina was there for the first time. After I finished preaching, and the pastor opened it up for a Q&A time, she asked why I had chosen to preach about Luke 4. She said the other night, just after having been invited to come to church, she turned on the TV and found a movie about Jesus, quoting the passage in Luke 4:18. I told her with joy that I hadn't been spying on her television, but that this is the message God had given me more than a month ago, and that maybe God was just trying to get her attention! She agreed, and was quite joyful when I talked with her after the service.

At the end of the evening, the pastor invited people to pray with us down at the altar. Mind you, we had never met any of these people before -- yet their prayers were so fervent and Spirit-filled! I remember asking God in the middle of our prayer time -- "why do these people care so much about us??" and He said, quite clearly -- "They are not responding to you. They are responsive to my Spirit." And I am so thankful! It is further confirmation to us that we are only a small part of something much bigger God is doing. We are finding quite often that God is already moving hearts and minds before we even open our mouths.

Among those prayers that night were prayers for our safety as we traveled through the night back to Ohio. God proved faithful, and we thanked him for our protection as we pulled up next to our house at 2:30am Sunday morning. After a few hours of sleep we were again blessed to be in a rich time of worship and fellowship with our church. Again I felt the Spirit's presence as we sang and I preached -- I know it all went much better than it should have on such little sleep. God is so good and so faithful!

For all who are praying -- know that your prayers are already being answered, before we even leave. Thank you, thank you for your obedience and faithfulness to God!