Odd or God? You Be The Judge.

My wife’s dad was one of the closest and dearest friends I’ve had in my life. He was a true encourager to me and always believed in me. I could not have dreamed of a better father-in-law. He pastored Churches for more than forty years and whenever we were together we would spend many hours sitting out under a shade tree or in the swing on the porch discussing all subjects relating to the Bible. He had his faults and could be as ornery as a Baptist preacher could be, but after all, that’s what he was, a Baptist preacher. But at the same time he was the ‘real deal’, sold out for Jesus, and a man with a passion for souls.

He passed away a number of years ago and I miss him so very much. Over the years he told me many stories about his many experiences as a servant of the Lord. He was not a man prone to conjure up all kinds of spiritual signs in every happening in life. But at the same time he tried his best to follow God’s direction each day that came his way. An illustration of this can be seen in a special event that happened to him.

One Sunday afternoon after Church services he began feeling a burden to go and visit a pastor friend some fifty miles away. He tried to shake it but he couldn’t. Finally, he decided he had to go. He made arrangements for the Sunday evening services to be covered and he drove over to his pastor friend’s Church. When he arrived his friend came out to meet him and my father-in-law told him he had no idea why he was there, but was hoping that perhaps he could tell him. The friend said he didn’t know either but was extremely glad to see him and asked if he would preach for them that night.

The people showed up and my father-in-law stood up and preached the message God had laid on his heart. At the end of the service nothing unusual happened and after visiting for a short time with his pastor friend, he returned home. At that time he really didn’t have a clue as to why he had felt the need to go to his friend’s Church but he did sense that he had obeyed what he believed God had directed him to do.

A few months later he saw his pastor friend at a fellowship meeting and his friend said he had something very important to tell him. A couple of days after my father-in-law had preached at this Church the pastor received a phone call from a man who had attended services that night. He asked if he could meet with the pastor to discuss something that had happened that night. He agreed and the man came over to his home and they sat on the front porch.

He went on to say that the man began to weep and told the pastor that on the night in question he had come to the Church property with a pistol in his belt fully intending to kill another man in the Church over some disputed property. After hearing my father-in-law’s sermon he could not bring himself to go through with the killing. He said he then understood that his family as well as the other man’s family had been rescued from tragedy that night. In fact, he and the other man had since reached agreement and made things right between themselves.

This was all a surprise to my father-in-law because he had not thought any more about it for a long time. Some might think this was coincidental or maybe that someone’s imagination got the best of them. I can assure you my wife’s dad was a man of honesty and integrity and I am fully persuaded that God Himself took action that night in sending my father-in-law to be used to intervene between these men. Long ago the poet wrote: “God works in mysterious ways his will to perform”. Amen. And so He does! More later………….