On February 20th, I sent out a support letter for a house. Some dear friends and supporters (that I met years ago through my home church) responded that they had a 23 ft Winnebago Class C Camper that I could use. She wondered if somehow it could be used in “service to the Lord.”
I responded on February 26th and told her how packed my schedule was with 2 squads (one international and one WR America one) that I couldn’t foresee needed a camper but I would keep it in mind.
She responded on February 27th, “I trust the camper will be of God’s use in His time.”
On March 12th, I wrote to her and said that I couldn’t shake that God may have the camper for some unforeseen reason in my life.
It would be March 15th….just 3 days later…..that I would find out our international squads would be removed from the field due to COVID.
Yesterday, I flew to Florida, along with my niece, Nikki, to pick up this camper.
On the way to the airport, I talked to my Uber driver. He was 24, from Venezuela and said he was a Catholic. I told him how I was also raised Catholic but didn’t know Christ until 22. He didn’t seem to be that excited when I talked about my relationship with God. He talked about his job and making money frequently in our car ride.
You can tell who the Lord of our life is by what actually comes out of our mouth most.
Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks
and it’s deeply revealing.
On the first flight, I sat next to a 28 year old girl. She said she was getting away as it had been a hard year. I engaged in conversation with her. She told me how her dad, mom and grandparents died in the last year to year and 1/2. Her mom was an alcoholic and started coughing up blood on a flight and had to be rushed to a hospital.
She said she couldn’t trust anyone.
I asked her how she processed all this? She said “I don’t.” She told me how she stays in her room and how her kids telling her they loved her everyday helped. I told her how I was reading Job this morning and it helped me see that Job didn’t always know what was going on in suffering.
She didn’t know Job. I showed her this screenshot, I saved on my phone this morning from David Gusik’s commentary on Job.
She read it. I told her when I lost my sister and my dad to suicide that I clung to God. That it was hard and He brought me through. Sometimes I wondered if I would ever be okay.
She didn’t have any faith and it didn’t seem like her parents did either. Was honestly a little hard to understand her through the masks we had on while I tried to figure out where she was at faith wise. Her mask had “Black Lives Matter” on it.
I showed her Transformation church on YouTube where she could listen to Mike Todd’s sermons. She is black as is Mike Todd, who is also close to her age, so I figured she would relate. I told her of the sermon from last week “I became stronger when I let go of….” She took a picture of my phone and said she would listen to it.
I told her God puts me with people, like on the plane, for a reason and that He loved her and sees her. I think her eyes had tears in them after I said that.
She doesn’t trust anyone, but for a moment she trusted a stranger who just so happens to trust Jesus.
When we spend time with Jesus in the mornings, we have treasures to give away that is fresh manna. Fresh bread. Our daily bread.
I, myself, was deeply encouraged by Job this morning. Never did I know I could pass on this message right out of the oven just minutes later on a flight.
If we are willing and have our ears tuned to Jesus, we will know what He is saying to us, when to act on it (like this Camper) and when to speak.
Today, I will learn how to drive this Camper. Nikki and I did a trial run at a local campground last night near my friend’s house. I am typing from the camper’s table that I just slept on hours ago.
Nikki and I are about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime. 5 days straight of driving from Florida to Washington State.
We will meet up with the three WR America vans in Washington State where we will have debrief and an Awakening. (Like a conference) Two of the vans are from our international squads that returned early due to COVID. No one could foresee this, but God….that’s why I couldn’t shake that a Camper would be needed for some “unforeseen reason.”
We have a God that sees what we don’t see. Like Job’s story.
The husband, of this couple that is letting me use their camper, said last night over dinner said they would gladly lend this camper for “God’s glory.” So as the wife said many months ago “I trust this camper will be of God’s use in His time and for the service of the Lord.” Amen and amen.
Now, let’s go talk to some strangers that don’t trust anyone and show them Someone incredible that they can trust.
Our Lord. The overflow of our hearts.
