Last weekend, our team had a wonderful opportunity to show the Jesus Film in a nearby village. I have always heard amazing things about the Jesus Film, so I was super excited about it. However, when last Friday rolled around, I honestly wasn’t really in the mood. It was incredibly hot and I was incredibly tired, and we were going to have to walk (with the equipment) to the village, because our contact’s car is currently in the shop.
We broke into groups and went into the village to tell more people. Since we didn’t have enough translators, we relied on the local kids to tell the people. I honestly felt like I was in some sort of parade, as we walked through the village with probably thirty children, who told everyone they saw about the movie. Their excitement was contagious, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t wanted to go earlier that day.
When the movie started, there were almost 450 people who came to see the film. As the movie was getting close to the end, I started to notice that the wind was really picking up. It had been lightening in the distance, but it began to be clear to me that it was definitely going to storm. The screen blew down. They fixed it. It blew down again. This time it was broken. The wind was really picking up now, and all of the people started heading home. We packed up our broken equipment and began walking home as well.
As we kept walking, the storm started to pick up. It was lightening and thundering and beginning to rain, and we still had a good ways to walk. I’m not gonna lie, I started to get a little freaked out. Walking home in the pitch black in a lightening storm with metal equipment isn’t exactly my favorite thing to do. I began praying that someone would pick us up. We turned onto a main road, and it took just a few minutes for a pickup truck to drive by and ask if we wanted to get in the back. I thanked God for the quick answer to prayer and climbed in. They took us to our home, and as soon as we arrived safely, the storm hit really bad.
As I listened to the rain and thunder outside, I realized that God had, once again, taken care of us. Sometimes on this trip we experience what I like to think of as “mini miracles”. Those moments where I can see so clearly that God is watching over us. This was one of the moments. If the storm hadn’t blown over the equipment, we would have been stuck in that field with the screen still up- the metal poles acting as two giant lightening rods. God got us out just in time and even provided us with a ride. While I would have liked for those people to have seen the whole film, I am reminded that God doesn’t need them to see the whole film to draw them to Himself. God will pursue His people- you can count on that- and all he asks of us is obedience. And as I sat inside that night; warm, dry, and safe, I was once again so grateful that God is in control.
