We quickly washed the dishes after Fiene’s Fajita Friday and got ready to leave. The worship service began at 8:00 and it was already 8:20. It was already a long walk to begin with, but traffic was also bad from everybody returning from their mosques.
“Do you want to go get a Chinese pancake?” Mike asked me.
The night bazaar was on the way and quite close to the House of Prayer, and Chinese pancakes are the bomb dot com so I agreed.
Dodging traffic, we made our way from china town and through little India with the night bazaar in our sights.
I calculated the trip in my mind. “Ok, it’s 8:20 now, a 20 minute walk, 10 minute detour, additional 10 minutes for wiggle room; we should arrive by 9, fashionably late, but with deliciousness in our bellies.”
Calculations, dodging cars, joining the occasional conversation amongst my team, and thoughts about getting where we needed to be crowded my mind, almost blinding me to the man walking straight towards me……almost.
I’d seen this man before. Four times, in fact.
The first two times I saw him, he was shirtless and walking up and down the street yelling in Malay. I suspected that not all cylinders were firing up there but didn’t think anything of it.
Then I saw him a third time near one of our ministries, this time fully clothed, but still yelling. The fact that I’d seen the same man 3 times was uncanny and I recognized the hand of the Holy Spirit so I was determined to pray for his healing and prayed that I’d see him again.
I heard him first, his distinctively angry tone, then I saw him.
“Really? Four times in different areas of the city I have run into the same man?”
Eyes wandering aimlessly, the man continued to walk towards me, yelling at no one in particular and my mind raced. “Four times, this is definitely the spirit working….but we have to get to the worship service and we are already late….”
I continued thinking about it till we had passed him.
4 times seeing him, four opportunities to lay hands on him and pray for healing missed. Four opportunities to witness Gods power missed.
Of course I believe God redeems and that I am not an indispensable link in Gods plan for this man, but this got me thinking.
How many times, on the way to ministry, am I blind to the need surrounding me?
How many times, on the way to accomplish my plans, am I blind to the hurt surrounding me?
On my way to build the kingdom and do great things for the Lord, am I missing the very “least of these” which Jesus calls me to help?
