There has been a long pause between my posts on this topic. We have been in the middle of a fundraising / building project for our church and youth centre the last few months and I put blogging aside for a time. However, I am back to writing and looking forward to continuing the ‘Why I Believe Challenge.’
Very often when something bad happens people question either ‘where is God?’ or look at it is proof of his non-existence. I certainly do not have all the answers as to why all the good and bad in the world happens. Just this week I lost a friend who went missing in a boating accident. I have lots of questions. However, it seems every once in a while something happens to remind me of how real God is as well.
Every year I go on mission trip with people from my community. Some of those we go are from our church, some from our youth centre, some are friends of mine, and some are just people who heard about the trips and want to go. This May I had an interesting experience.
Our team was visiting families in a village where both Haitians and Dominicans are living. Many of the children there attend a school for sponsored kids that we were working with. The team was heading back but myself and two others stragglers were still talking to people. One of the people we met was this gentleman in the picture. We talked talked for a while, saw where he lived, and met his wife who was bedridden. One person prayed with them. We also asked was there anything they need?
One thing he said was that he needed somewhere to sleep. Their one room shack had one small bed where his wife was. She regularly wet the bed and he would sleep on the concrete floor sometimes. However, there was not enough room for another bed so I didn’t really have an answer for this situation.
So there are lots of needs. We were surrounded by them. However, he was a man in his late seventies who had this particular need. However, there is much more to the story.
I had my phone turned off and was not checking my phone messages while away. So when I got home I had a voice box filled with messages. One of them was from a lady in Cape Breton. She had called me because her and a few friends had made roll up beds and was wondering if I knew anyone who needed them. More specifically they had made them for Haitians who may be having to sleep on the ground or didn’t have any beds.
Well to be honest I have never had anyone call me about giving me roll up bed for someone from Haiti. Neither have I ever had anyone ask me to find a way to help them have somewhere to sleep in a space too small for a bed.
But one day I did run into this gentleman. We prayed that God would provide what he and his wife needed. Somehow it all happened. I had a friend traveling back to the Dominican last week and we sent this to be delivered to this gentleman.
You may think that it is all a fluke or by chance. However, it reminds me of so many of the stories in the gospels when Jesus stopped and met someone right where they were. Somehow I think God stepped into this man and woman’s life and provided what they needed.