Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Two Stories

Tonight was the monthly MOPS meeting, which I skipped the first 3/4 of to attend another meeting where the speakers were missionaries. They spoke about where they're working, what they're doing, and how amazing it is to see God working in so many lives. It reminded me of a story I heard last year on a mission trip and I wanted to share it.

A disabled man moved from the country to the city to find work. He met many other disabled people who told him of a company that had hired disabled men off the streets, an unheard of thing in this culture. The man desperately wanted to work for this company, but he had no way to get his foot in the door.

One day he met a preacher who spent a long time talking to him about God. The man said it sounded interesting, but there was no way he could believe it was true. The preacher challenged him to pray and ask God for something, something that seemed impossible, and see what happened. The man, naturally, prayed for a chance to work at the wonderful company.

Later that week, the man was sitting on a street corner when a foreigner approached him and struck up a conversation. After speaking for a bit, the foreigner asked him about where he lived, if he had a job, etc. No, I have nothing, the man answered. The foreigner said he owned a company and he would like the man to come to his office on Monday to see if they could find something for him to do. He gave the man money to last through the weekend and handed him his business card. The disabled man took one look at the card and tears came into his eyes. He explained, "I asked God to give me a chance to speak to someone at your company and God has sent the president."

Cause God works big like that, people.

At the end of tonight's presentation, an older gentleman from our church stood up and asked to share a quick story. As he said, God's not just working in foreign missionary fields. The gentleman, BT, was recently out to get a haircut, but his normal place was booked and his backup wasn't in business anymore. He headed out to find another shop, missed his turn, ended up at a shopping center and finally found a place. He went in to find the shop filled with women, but was assured that someone there could take care of him. He was directed to a chair and struck up a conversation with the stylist that very quickly led to spiritual matters (BT, he is bold). He asked the woman if she was going to heaven when he died and she simply replied, "No. I don't know how." BT jumped right in and asked if he could explain it to her, so she walked off, pulled up a stool, and sat looking him right in the face. By the end, tears were running down her cheeks. She said, "You're going to think I'm crazy, but last night I prayed that God would please send someone to me today who could explain just what you've told me."

God is answering prayers in the streets of Asia and the salons of America and he is doing big, huge, amazing things. Are you praying for big, huge, amazing things? Go ahead, God will answer.

1 comment:

Angela S said...

Thanks for visiting my blog and your recommendation about security. My husband does cyber security and I totally see where you're coming from. The secure information will likely be two sheets of paper in the safe and most other things in a binder on the shelf of the office. I've always struggled with what to do with the secure stuff because I know it all in my head and don't want to risk having it in one place but at the same time, if I lost that information in my head then we'd be hosed. So its a tough situation. Someday we'll get a safe deposit box and that could help. Anyway I appreciated your stories. They are so true. I have often felt like I don't get traditional "still small voice" answers to prayers...I do when its HUGE stuff but usually I just feel like I need to make sure I"m doing the right thing and God will direct me if I'm wrong. Basically leaves it to personal judgement. But there have been four or five times in my life when BAM the answer hit me smack in the face and really those are treasured memories. Have a great day!