God Had The Supplies. 3/7/2015

Good Morning,

Yesterday I felt like I was walking on sunshine. Today I feel like I walked too much. Ha! The cup next to me is filled with Door County Country Morning Blend Coffee and it is tasting very good.

I want to continue from yesterday my thoughts on a "Crisis Of Faith" when God calls you to do something.

It seems like yesterday that I led a group from the United States to another country to help after a major earthquake devastated a large region. We arrived in country, in two large groups and one small one. The flights landed safely and the only group to get all their clothes and supplies was the small group. I had arrived early with my little team of three and surveyed our work week. I was asked if I would pray and see if God would take us beyond the original plan that was talked about while I was still in the United States. The host commented that where we were would be working and giving away supplies was already blessed twice that summer and they seemed to be "getting fat" while not far away a refugee camp that was considered least worthy of assistance by the locals because of their ethnicity was starving and in need of supplies. I prayed and God laid it on my heart that we were to go and do as much as we could for the refugees but still fulfill our obligations to the original group. The answer came as to how I could appease the obligated needs of the people who had already been blessed and were pretty much back on their feet. We would do that through labor and give them what we had which at that time was nothing. Still no supplies had arrived from the States. A little luggage was coming in each day. By mid week we had all the luggage and our team actually started smelling better. But no supplies.

Each day we would meet our obligations by performing labor in the area. I kept praying. We all did. Later that week we were to go to the refugee camp and we had nothing but love to give. The original pastors we were sent to help expressed how unhappy they were that we did not have more supplies to help them restore their school. I kept thinking about the piles of clothes that was already there that could help this starving refugee camp. It was cold along the ocean and these people barely had the clothes on their backs. Yet these Christians would not share. In addition, they were not happy that we were leaving a day early to minister where I knew God expected us to show up. I washed my hands of these people.

We had team meetings and decided that we would give all of our clothes away except for what we needed to travel in at the refugee camp. We also would cut our vitamins, ibuprofen, and aspirin in half and give it out in the camp as needed. We had nothing to give. We also devised a plan to pool our money and buy as much rice and beans as we could and have our "in country" contact distribute it fairly.

Psalm 23New King James Version (NKJV

A Psalm of David.

23 The Lord is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
² He makes me to lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside the still waters.
³ He restores my soul;
He leads me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.

⁴ Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil;
For You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup runs over.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever

But then came the call. All the supplies had arrived but they were three hours away. Only I could sign for them and I had to go and claim them to see if taxes would be levied. I got on a bus by myself in a country where I do not speak the language. The teams prayed for me and I promised that I would see them the next day. The bus conductor came to my seat and motioned for me to stand and that I would not be allowed to sit. So to keep myself awake I recited Psalms in my head and other Bible verses. I remember praying quietly Psalm 23, I actually thought about throwing the conductor off of his bus at  one point but decided praying was best. I had answered the call, God knew where I was and so far it was inconvenient but had not really created a "crisis of faith" just yet. Until!  Two hours into the trip I could see the bus driver talking on a cell phone and looking back in my direction through his mirror. I knew some of the slang spoken in the country and could tell he was talking about me. Ten minutes later in the middle of nowhere, the bus stopped and I was told to get off. Now was the crisis of faith. As the bus pulled away a van was pulling up. I pictured my mother watching the world news seeing me with a bag over my head as a hostage for ransom. I remember saying "Lord this will be a good fight, fill my arm with strength. No one loves me enough to pay to get me back". When the door on the van opened up it was a bunch of American college missionaries. The bus driver had called my "in country contact" and expressed that he was worried about my safety. Our contact sent these kids to intercept the bus and bring me to the city safely. Wow and another wow.

The kids took me to eat and I dined on delicacies indigenous to the country. They took me to the airport where our contact was waiting and we picked up all the supplies which was more than I expected. We filled the back of a bus, no taxes were levied and the bus company did not charge us for the huge quantity of boxes. !!!!!!!!!!!

We had everything we needed for the refugee camp, including some blankets, clothing  and medicine.
God delivered the supplies just in time. Had they come earlier we might have given some away to appease the greedy pastors in the first community who did not want to share. God knew what we needed, when it was needed, protected the delivery boy and served up one feast for the chubby guy.

That day in the camp, heaven moved and besides meeting personal needs, the Gospel was shared and many received Jesus. Later emails were sent home by the teams and money was raised and sent to feed that camp for a year.

I saw God at work that day and He included me.



Marty