I’ve written previously about how things in life really seem to come full circle in many circumstances, and how even the small things that happen in our lives can have a profound impact on our future, or the future of people around us.
I found this again to be very evident while our team was in India. There were many days where we got thrown into a tight situation at the last minute, and instances from my past proved to come in very handy; and God showed me in 4 areas how He continues to work in our pasts, presents, and futures.
1. Our nightly routine in India was to put together a church service with songs, some testimonies, as well as someone speaking from the Word of God.
As I’ve mentioned, our team is far from the most musical bunch of Racers you’ll ever find, but we were constantly redeemed during these services through songs that we remembered from our childhood. My mom led songs for our Sunday School through a large chunk of my formative years, and I can’t express how helpful it was to have “Jesus Loves Me”, “This Little Light of Mine”, or “I’ve got the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy Down in my Heart” in the back of my mind, even though I haven’t had occasion to sing those tunes in decades.
2.There are two things that have been tucked into my Bible-cover for many years, and I never used either of these items until our month in India.
A regular occurrence that we learned to deal with in India was a loss of electricity. I can probably count on one hand the amount of church services when we had electricity all the way through the service from start to finish. And India, being a sweltering furnace even in October, constantly forced us into the use of make-shift fans during the services.
These cards have been sitting in my Bible for over 5 years. They were distributed at a church that I don’t even attend anymore, and I’ve always wondered why I kept them in the front of my Bible, but they were a true blessing to my teammates and me, when we needed to cool ourselves in a poorly ventilated Indian village church. Even though I’ve had no reason to use these cards in my past, and I may never need them in the future, at least for this one month, I know that God had me keep them for a reason.
Secondly, I received this multi-bookmark many years ago as a stocking-stuffer, and I think I put it in my Bible just to keep my mom happy; but over time, it’s gotten in the way more than it has helped me in my reading.
However, as I regularly had to scour through the New Testament looking for verses to tie together, this bookmark came in handy on a nightly basis, as I found myself needing to stretch for time more often than not: forcing me to keep tabs on many Bible verses at one time.
3. Along with the general Bible-reading population, I’ve always been the type to highlight verses in my Bible, whenever I find something inspiring, uplifting, or just something helpful to remember in general.
Really though, I’ve wondered why I make these marks in God’s word. I’ve often thought that if there’s something important to know, then I can either look it up in a concordance, or I will just find a verse when necessary. However, I can’t say how helpful these marks proved to be, when I had to throw together a 20-minute Word of God sermon, with roughly 5 minutes to prepare.
My regular routine would be to turn to Matthew, and just start looking through chapters and find some common themes that these Indian congregations could learn from. It’s very possible that many of these messages didn’t reach across the lines of translation, but I choose to believe that God still spoke through me in a way that reached these people.
4. I’ve been to many weddings over the last 8 years, and many have been conducted by my college pastor Jeff Mickey.
I’ve mentioned to Jeff in the past that I have gotten to know some of his standard routines during a wedding ceremony. He will often kick things off by having the congregation identify who is there because they are close/extended family, and who is a friend or a casual acquaintance. The point of this exercise is to show that everyone in attendance at this wedding has played an important part in the lives of the couple getting married, and that they have an important role to play in their future, as they will need guidance to help in the formation of a strong marriage.
I’ve scoffed at Jeff’s regularity in this exercise in the past, but in India, it proved to be more useful to me than I would ever imagine.
One Saturday, we were told that our church sanctuary (which was our sleeping quarters every night of the month) would be hosting a wedding in 30 minutes, and we needed to clear out our tents, and everything we had set up.
Long story short, we begrudgingly got everything cleaned up and had the sanctuary ready for the wedding… then I was asked to perform the ceremony. Naturally I declined, but agreed to read some scripture to assist with the service.
I assumed I could just get up there and knock out some 1 Corinthians 13; baddabing baddaboom, we’re ready to go.
However, when I walked on stage, I asked our translator how long he would like the scripture reading to last, and he said, “Oh, maybe not more than 20 minutes”.
I went into panic mode, and had to revert back to some old improv skills. I broke down 1 Corinthians 13 in about the most excruciating detail that I could muster, then went into some Ephesians 5 with the roles of husbands and wives. But I still had plenty of time to kill. That’s when Jeff’s old routine came back to me, and I spent nearly ten minutes explaining the importance of having a strong church family around a married couple, and how important it will be for the friends and family to help out this couple in times of need.
Jeff; sorry that I ever scoffed at your wedding services. Not only is this an important lesson to remember, but I know that God burned these services into my memory, so that I could use them in an Indian wedding ceremony. Did you ever think your messages would reach this far across the globe?
I don’t know if there is a real message to find in this blog, except that you never know when God can put something in your road of life that may not help you in the present, but could be useful years, or even decades down the road.
God grants us thoughts, ideas, and even physical items that we can use for His kingdom. Don’t forget to put them to good use.
