A divine encounter

Have you ever met someone and afterward realized it wasn’t by chance, but God set it all up? That happened to me about 35,000 feet in the air on our way to Tokyo, en route to the Philippines.

I had gotten up to walk around and stretch out and walked to the back of the plan. There I met a man named Jim. We asked the normal questions: Where are you from? Where are you going? Jim lives in South Carolina with his wife of 44 years. He and his wife have moved 42 times over those years as he served in the U.S. military. Now retired, he and his wife were traveling to China to visit their daughter and her family.

I told him about our mission trip to the Philippines. He was excited about that as he too is a Christians. As he talked, I knew God was speaking through him to encourage me, confirm and reaffirm why we were on this trip.

Jim asked if we build churches in the Philippines. I said not yet, but that was one of our prayers and goals. We want to help the indigenous pastors and missionaries plant churches and support their work.

He then gave me this wonderful analogy. Jim asked, does a baby have anything to do with being born? Martha, Mom and I all said, no. He said right, a seed is planted and a baby is conceived. Then the baby is born and the parents nurture the child. Then he looked me in the eyes and said, “That’s all you have to do.”

Jim said just preach the simple, but powerful message of Jesus Christ crucified and raised again from the dead for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Tell the people about Jesus (plant the seed) and let the Holy Ghost do the rest. He said plant churches in the Philippines and we will have an untold harvest waiting for us in Heaven.

Praise God! I was such a simple, but powerful word from a man with great wisdom.

He also said that when the Lord opens the door, run through it as fast as we can. Then he warned, when God closes a door then it is time to leave.

I’ll always remember that talk with Jim, and what made it even more powerful was as I returned to my seat I opened the Bible to continue reading. I was in the Book of Acts and the next scripture I read was Acts 10:34-48. The Apostle Peter was speaking to the Gentiles the simple, but powerful message of Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead for the remission of sins. Exactly what Jim was telling us.

God spoke to me through this kind gentleman and then reaffirmed it through His Word. Now we know without a doubt that we will plant churches in the Philippines and not only continue the work we have been doing with our brothers and sisters here for the past year, but do even more. We are supposed to be here.

Thank you God for speaking to your humble servant 35,000 miles above the earth you created. I’m looking forward to that day when I will take that glorious trip even higher than that to meet my Lord and Savior face-to-face. That’s a promise God gives to everyone who believes and confesses that Jesus is their Lord and Savior.

Jesus died for all of us. Then God raised Him from the grave on the third day. Accept what Jesus did on the cross. Believe God raised Him from the grave. Confess your sins to Jesus and asked Him to forgive and save you. Now, confess that Jesus is your Lord and Savior. It’s that simple, and that powerful.