Right Place, Right Time

 “We’re doing a giveaway from a semi-truck,” K had told me. Since we usually do giveaways from a box truck, I knew that this was going to be a huge giveaway. And this was on the morning of New Year’s Eve. We have free use of a church parking lot close to the center of town, but the parking lot is too small to accommodate a semi. Thus, we met at a church I’ve never been to before. It is on the edge of town and has a very large and open parking lot. K and the unloading team had been there since 8:30. Distribution team setup was set for 10:30, with the giveaway set to start around 11AM.

When I got there, they had already unloaded the semi and it was gone. The forklift operator was straightening the line of pallets (about 20 of them) and then he loaded the forklift onto a trailer and drove off. On the pallets were dozens of cases of sparkling iced tea. One last pallet had a huge box full of bar soap—much of which had not been cut up into bars. The team was bagging-up the smaller bars of soap for distribution. (Later in the afternoon someone with a knife started cutting the slabs of soap into bars for distribution.) I went and helped with the initial bagging. Someone commented that the soap smelled nice. I wouldn’t know. Covid messed with my sense of smell[1] and I couldn’t smell anything, but a vaguely soapy smell.

The team was given their instructions: a bag of soap and five cases of tea to every car or family[2]. These instructions didn’t apply to me because my instructions are always the same: after their car is loaded up, pray for each of them. Often, I am the only person on the prayer team, but this time my friend, A was here. A is very much an evangelist, who will ask everybody claiming to be believers (even pastors) about their faith and how they got saved. That’s great because 1 Peter 3:15 says to always be ready to explain about your hope as a believer. So even if they are already believers, A's question gives them the opportunity to put their faith into words. Often people will answer A’s question with “works”:

·       “I live a good life”

·       “I’m a good person”

·       “I go to church”

·       “I’m a member of a church”

·       “I was baptized”

·       “I prayed the prayer of salvation” and so forth.

Understand this: none of those things will get you into Heaven. The one and only way into Heaven is the blood of Jesus shed for you. And all you have to do is repent (turn away from your sins) and accept God’s free gift for you. It’s so simple, but it’s the very simplicity that sometimes trips people up. They think that there must be something else: “When I get baptized God will accept me.” Baptism is good and an essential step of faith, but baptism alone will not save you.

Lots of people think of the commandments, and that if they live a morally perfect life they will be saved. Wrong! First of all, it’s impossible to live a morally perfect life. The commandments were given in order to reveal to us God’s impossible standard of perfection and our need for a Savior. The only One who ever lived a morally perfect life was Jesus. That’s why Jesus is the Way[3]—the Only Way.

A had brought her friend, M, with her. A had met M at an abortion clinic where she had shared the gospel with M. Now M often accompanies A to abortion clinics so that she can share her testimony with women in a similar situation.

My approach is different: I offer to pray for the people in their cars (most say yes) and give away Bibles, booklets, or tracts (which I have in both Spanish and English), each of which contains instructions for salvation. Since I’m usually the only person on the prayer team, I must necessarily keep my interactions brief. Otherwise, cars will stack up and/or the drivers will get frustrated and leave without prayer. K and I agree that if we only offer goods or food it’s temporary help, at best. The most important thing that we offer is the matchless gift of salvation and a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. A’s approach takes more time, but is obviously no less valuable. Whenever A and I work together, I figure that each carload will speak with whomever they need to speak with: me or A. The whole thing has been prayed over: people, giveaway items, faith-based materials, interactions—all of it.

Several hours later, the cars trickled down to almost nothing. So it was obvious that we were going to be left with a few pallets of sparkling tea. K called G from my Friday morning giveaway. She came with a trailer that we loaded up with all the emptied pallets, the remaining soap, and as much of the tea as we could fit.

We still had a whole lot of tea left, so I told K that I was going to Asheville the next day (New Year’s Day). Asheville (and all of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee) is still very much in need of help and supplies in the wake of hurricane helene. So we filled the back of my car with as many cases as we could fit.

That’s when I got a text message from L, the person who had put me in touch with K to begin with. She was asking for prayers for the Wildfire[4] worship event that evening. Almost immediately a car drove up and parked by the church building. I went over and asked if they needed or wanted some of the tea we were giving away. As we loaded them up, the driver told us that he is the sound engineer for Wildfire. The event was happening this evening at the very church were the giveaway had been.

Soon after, L’s kids (leaders of Wildfire) arrived to set up for the event. We loaded their car, too. In the end, we were able to give away all of the tea. Plus, now that the church sanctuary was open, I got to pray for the Wildfire event onsite.

Now, some may say that this was just a coincidence. The rabbis say that coincidence is not a Kosher word. In other words, what we think of as a fantastic coincidence (spending the whole day at a church I’d never heard of only to find that it’s also the site of that evening’s Wildfire worship event) is, in reality, a God-ordained divine appointment: a God-incidence.

In the course of praying for people today, I believe that I got a word from God about 2025: breakthrough. I believe that 2025 will be the year of breakthrough, not only for those I had prayed for, but for all of God’s people. Whatever you’ve been praying for, don’t give up!

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened[5].

Your breakthrough is on the way. Praise God! And this is certainly just one of our Everyday Miracles.

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[1] In the summer of 2020 I had been exposed to covid, but tested negative. I lost my sense of smell altogether, so I decided to get a covid blood test. I did have covid antibodies in my blood, which had to have been from September 2019. That’s a story for another time, but that illness had all the earmarks of covid.

In November 2020—Thanksgiving week, as a matter of fact—my sense of smell returned, but everything that I could smell smelled like rancid gasoline. Needless to say, it pretty much ruined the Thanksgiving meal for me.

[2] Often one person picks up items for a neighbor or friend; or sometimes the neighbor/friend will ride shotgun.

[3] John 14:6.

[4] Since my only remaining ministry partner graduated to Heaven and I am no longer serving in Europe, I have turned over my non-profit organization to Wildfire, changing the name, and the leadership. So European Faith Missions is now Burning Love Global.

[5] Matthew 7:7-8, emphasis mine.