Furlough was on the horizons. Bro. Jack and Lois McLain had traveled down to Belize to take our place while we were in the USA. We were in need of a place to live for a year while visiting our supporting churches to give a report and to seek funds to buy land and build a church building in Orange Walk Town where the Lord had blessed us with the starting of Freedom Baptist Church.
In Jacksonville, Florida, our youngest daughter, Joy, wanted us to visit a church with her that she had been attending. It was an absolutely beautiful Sunday morning. My wife and I, Joy, and our two grandchildren headed to church. Arriving, we were greeted by some of the members and were seated.The service was great with good singing and preaching from the Word of God. The Pastor just happened to mention that their missionaries, who were living in the mission house of the church, were leaving for Russia in a few weeks. My mind went into overdrive thinking that here is a mission house that would be empty in a little while and we needed a place to live during our furlough. But I did not know these Christians and they did not know us, though we all had one Person in common and His Name was Jesus.
The service ended and we headed to the nursery, picked up the grandchildren, and headed to my daughter’s SUV. I wanted to talk to the Pastor about the mission house but did not get the opportunity. Little did I know what God had in store for us. We all headed to Famous Amos for some lunch.
As we were driving down the road my cell phone rang and I saw that it was my daughter Joy who was in the back seat calling. So I asked her, “Joy, why are you calling me when I am right here?” Joy replied, “Dad, I’m not calling you.” “Well, it says Joy is calling so I answered it and I heard a voice say, “Is this Joy’s dad?” I was a little shocked to say the least, but I said, “Yes it is.”
The lady calling said that she was the Pastor’s daughter at the church we had just visited. She was walking to her car in the parking lot and spotted a cell phone lying on the pavement. She called the number that said “Dad.” Meanwhile, Joy was looking for her cell phone and could not find it, concluding it must have dropped out of her purse. The Pastor’s daughter said that she would wait in the parking lot for us to return.
We whipped around faster than a tornado and headed back to the church. When we arrived, guess who else was there? Yes, the Pastor and his wife. Joy got her cell phone and we had our little chit chat. You know, of course, what I was thinking all the while. This was a great opportunity to talk about the mission house and the opportunity presented itself.
“Pastor, do you think it might be possible when your missionaries leave for Russia that we could use the mission house while on furlough?” To my amazement the Pastor said, “Yes, that might be a possibility.” Wow, did that make my day! We all thanked the Pastor’s daughter for rescuing my daughter’s cell phone and thanked the Pastor and his wife for the possibility of using the mission home. Only God could arrange this little episode.
We headed off again to lunch discussing what had transpired because of a dropped cell phone at a church we had visited for the first time---how loving the Christians had been to us without even knowing anything about us except that we were missionaries to Belize. I suppose that was enough for brothers and sisters in Christ.
We continued to visit the church when we were in town and about a month later the Pastor suggested I come by and he would give us the keys to the mission house. Praise the Lord, the church had decided to let us use it while on furlough. The house was beautiful, comfortable and exactly what we needed for our furlough time.
What are the odds of only the Pastor’s daughter seeing the cell phone? When we left the parking lot it was still full of cars and the Pastor’s daughter was next to the last one to leave. It is amazing who and what God uses to get you to the place He wants you to be. This time it was a small cell phone.
Glory to His Name!
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