Wow, God’s timing is purely perfect, even down to seconds! We had been planning to leave the hotel earlier in the day, but we delayed because of the expected rain. But then, when the forecast changed, we decided to go out afterall. We were out for over four hours, wandering here and there, enjoying the warm evening together as a family to the point where we didn’t end up rolling back into the hotel until well after 11:00pm.
Just as we were driving to our apartment block, Don saw in the distance the silver pickup truck that had been parked near us the day before. He had noticed this particular vehicle that day because of the large sticker on the back which said, “Don’t wait for the hearse to take you to church!” Don had hoped we would run into the drivers of the truck, but we never did. The next time Don saw the vehicle, he determined to put one of our cards under the wiper blades, but as he dipped his hand into his shorts pocket, he realized he was out of cards! After that, Don deliberately planned to get a card, write a message on it, and go down to place it on the vehicle. But, by the time he got there, the pickup was gone!
Eventually, Don did get to put the card there, but he knew he was still meant to speak to someone connected with the vehicle - he just didn’t know how it was going to come together. Then, our evening out happened and Don excitedly spied the silver pickup in the distance, pulling into the hotel at the very same time as us and headed to the exact same block where we’ve been staying these last five months. Instantly, we recognized God’s miraculous hand upon the situation. What’s even more amazing is that we parked first after the silver pickup headed to the opposite side of the parking lot, but then the pickup turned around and came to park right beside us (even though there were lots of empty parking spaces)!
Needless to say, after we all exited our vehicles, Don instantly approached the driver of the pickup, eager to tell him the story of how we all finally came to meet. The young man (in his early thirties) was happy to find out that we were the ones that had put the card on the windshield, and so the conversation began…. We spent at least half an hour standing there in the parking lot, sharing scriptures and getting to know his story. We discovered that both of his parents are filled with the Holy Spirit and often pray in tongues, and his dad is even the pastor of a small church. But, the young man had yet to personally receive the Holy Spirit anointing. (He had been water baptized.) We also learned that the other times we’d seen the silver pickup, other family members were driving the vehicle, but this was the one time the young man been driving the truck on his own.
By the time we finished sharing with him, it was midnight, and he was due to go to work the next day. Nevertheless, he was still keen to come up to our hotel room for us to pray over him. He received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, and definitely felt the power. He was saying, “Wow, wow…!” We shared some more brief encouragement regarding living the Christian life as “people of the Way of Jesus” and encouraged him to go and pray in tongues as much as he can every day, in addition to studying and applying God’s Word, of course. We were all rejoicing in God’s miraculous hand and how He orchestrated all of our lives for us to come together in the most perfect way where the truth would be received and acted upon.
