Bam!
It hits out of nowhere! The mysteriousness of God. His characteristically outside-of-the-box way of doing things. Something happens so far outside of what I am expecting at that moment that it just puts me in awe. It makes me wonder how He does it. I mean, I know He’s God. He can do anything. But seriously, the way He plans things out is just so….
Amazing?
I guess that’s an acceptable, albeit limited, description of His workings, thoughts, and plans that He has for His children. The bible says in Jeremiah…
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV
and David says in Psalms,
“How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them,they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.” Psalm 139:17, 18 NIV
To know that God continually has me on His mind is beyond my comprehension. And not only does He think of us more than the number of the sand on the earth’s beaches, He has good thoughts toward us. He wants to bless us. He watches over us like a good father does over his children. It really is awesome to think about.
On to the purpose of the post….
God amazed me again today. Let me share the story with you.
First, a little background. I am a member of our church’s Men’s Ministry Team. One of the things we do for the men of our church is to provide a daily bible reading program that I send out via text nearly every morning. There are quite a few guys on the reading plan and it seems to be a good way to encourage us all to spend time in the word and also gives us a common discussion point since we’re all reading the same material each day.
Today, I also sent a text out to the men of our church letting them know there was a prayer request for a guy that had been in an accident and was currently in ICU . It went out to the same group of guys who get the daily bible reading texts. I sent it out, said a prayer for the individual, and went about my day, nothing out of the ordinary.
Until this afternoon.
At about 3:30 my phone rings. I look and see it’s from an unrecognized number. I figure it’s one of my customers so I answer with my typical saluatation….
“Rick Littreal”
The man on the other end of the phone tells me he received a text today about someone being in the hospital and that he was concerned. He thought it may have been someone he knew, and he was trying to clarify who it was and who I was. Of course he was referring to the text I had sent earlier and we each quickly figured out that I had sent the text to an incorrect number. In attempt to figure out how I even had his number, I asked him if he was affiliated with our church and told him who I was and what the text was about. He told me that he did not attend our church and furthermore had never even been to church. We continued to talk and he told me that while he had never been to church and was not a Christian, he keeps a bible by his bed and he – get this…..
really enjoys the daily bible readings that I had been sending.
What? Are you serious? My mind is racing. I’m silently praying for God to direct me while the guy is talking to me. God, your telling me that You’ve had this guy receiving the texts I’ve been sending? This man told me that he has been reading the scriptures that I send. God, have you been planning this intersection? I knew this was not a coincidence and I told this gentleman in no uncertain terms.
“This is a God thing. Do not let this pass you by.”
He said he knew that our meeting was not a coincidence. He told me that he knows that God has been watching out for him over the past few weeks. I did not press to know what that meant exactly but it let me know that this guy knows that something is going on. He knows this is important. How do I know that he knew it was important? Because he and I are perfect strangers and yet, when our call dropped 3 times, he called me back every time. Our conversation went on for just a short while but he told me that he would like to attend church with me this weekend. I told him I would contact him Saturday. I hung up and sat there.
I was excited. I still am. I was amazed. I still am. I try to put together the past weeks from God’s point of view. Can you imagine it? God sees me. God sees Him. God sees today, even 2, 3, 4 weeks ago. He’s preparing this guy’s heart. He causes his phone to be filled with text messaged scriptures and then He allows a text about someone being in an accident to prompt this man to make a phone call to a person he doesn’t even know. I don’t know what will happen from here, but God does.
He’s the grand coordinator.
He makes the earth to spin on it’s axis. He makes the sun to shine. He makes the wind to blow and the rain to fall. He causes two men’s paths to cross. Why? Because He loves His creation. And He has great plans for all of us.
Yep, it’s just when we think we have God figured out….. we realize we don’t.
Isn’t that just one of the things that makes Him so great?
MENTENTIONAL 
That is absolutely God. They say, “there is no God”. They say, “He isn’t a loving and merciful and graceful God”. They say…they say…they say…I dare anyone to ask this man whom God has been working on these past few weeks, “Is there a God?”. I dare anyone to ask him, “Does God even care?” I am so sure that this man will declare that indeed, there is a loving God who cares.
Just as this man will declare it, I must declare it. Even when I am not even asked. When a situation arises where I need to stand up and proclaim it, I must proclaim it. We live in a world of uncertainty. Tomorrow is no guarantee. I am so happy for this man and for you Rick.
What a time to come to know Him. A gift was given.
Lord, please touch this man’s life. Minister to him where he is. You came to meet us where we are, and You’ve done it again, for this man. I pray that he doesn’t miss this divine appointment. Father, I thank You for using Rick. I thank You for the man You are molding him into. You are so awesome, Lord. You took something as insignificant as a text message and wonderfied it. You are the only one who can melt a stoney heart. You are the only one who can prune a thorny thicket. Father, help to see Your wonders all around. It is in Jesus Christ name I pray, Amen.
Thanks for sharing Rick. May the Lord bless you…as I know He already has and will continually.
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It really is amazing. God cares about us so much and has such great plans for us. Thanks Jerry. Be blessed brother.
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Rick,
Funny you should use the word “amazing” to describe what God is and has been doing. For the last several months, that is the exact word I have been using to describe what God is doing. The prayers He has answered, the doors he is opening. I just told my friend yesterday, “Its just amazing what the Lord is doing”. There has been so many WOW moments!
Thanks for your posts. We enjoy them and they are a great blessing too us.
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Thanks for reading! God is so much more than I allow Him to be in my life so many times. It’s so awesome when something like this happens to remind me of what He can do – even in spite of me sometimes.
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I love this one Rick, and will be praying for this man’s salvation soon:) I love those kind of things, where it is like your on the verge of figuring something out in depth, but you don’t. He just likes to intrigue and boggle his children. It just keeps us on the end of our seats though, and helps to seek harder and deeper. Love you man, keep doing what your doing. The one that does is the one that is richly rewarded for his or her works. The one that is risen is also in you, keep being a portal for CHRIST:)
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God definitely can keep you on the edge of your seat in expectation! Thanks for the prayers, Doug. God bless you, brother.
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Super cool. I love it when God catches me off guard. It reminds me why He is in charge and not me. Thanks for sharing this.
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It’s awesome man. We never know what’s going on in the heavens!
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I’m also in the Mens Ministry (Janitors 4 Jesus) but not just in our church. I minister to men wherever He place me if that’s His will.
I’m consistently amazed of what and how He use those who has been call to do His perfect will. What I do know is that it all starts with our hearts.
We tend not to see like other men see but we tend to see the way God sees, hear the way God hears and even love the way God loves us even while we were yet sinner.
I use to not understand why I did some of the things I do. I use to apologize when I would tell men, sometime perfect strangers in places I’m visiting, how much it means to me that they’re the dad, granddad, son , brother, uncle, husband or whatever role God would have them at the appointed time of our CROSSing. I know now when these CROSSings happens its His perfect will and my responsibility to connect and make it work just for the time He has aloud.
I would sometime weep when telling them just what they mean to me. I know its the call to encourage and the gift I’ve received.
I thank God for all you do for the Ministry of Men and pray our work will some day bring us to meet. God Bless and ENJOY your day.
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What a blessing, Terry. I can tell from your post that you have a passion for God and the work that He has called you to do. I’m certain the people that are placed in your path can sense the same thing and that makes all the difference when we are sharing Christ with a person. It becomes more than mere words to them.
Maybe the Lord will bring our paths together some day. If He does, I’m sure we would have a lot to talk about! God bless you this year.
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