God Sends The Invitation and The Money

I wasn’t expecting all that I received; my cup runs over. I stepped out knowing that God was leading. After all, He had called me to go. A couple of years earlier I had been listening to my father-in-law talk about his trip to Africa for evangelism. The next year he took his son with him, and I thought maybe God would ask me to do something like that some day. I immediately said, “Lord I’ll go, but You have to call me, so I know You want me and can use me.” And then I tagged on the reality, “Lord I don’t want to ask my wife to let me take several weeks from her and the family in the summer,” which is the only vacation time we have together.

I have been aware that God is capable of anything, so He could inspire my wife to ask me to go on one of these trips. He is so capable of giving me this call, so I better make sure He knows that I would not be able to go if He did not provide the funds. So the two conditions were set, God calls me and pays for me to go and invite people to come to Him. I must let you know beforehand that “There is nothing too hard for the Lord.”

My wife and I were visiting her family, and her dad was asked to preach on Sabbath. He started by letting us know that he was in charge of 12 sites in Kisii, Kenya this summer and that a group that had filled all 12 sites had backed out. He was looking for help to finish filling those 12 sites. The church we were at was small, and there were a few of us that could go. In my heart I said, “Lord I’m not going to ask my wife, but now seems like a pretty good time to impress her.” I had never hinted to her in any way that I had an interest in doing this type of evangelism.

Before the end of the meeting, she turned to me and said, “I think you should go to Africa.”

I turned in the pew and said, “Don’t joke about this with me. Are you serious?” She looked around and said, “Yes, I think you’d be good at that.” God is capable of inspiring my wife to ask me to go. So after the meeting I talked with my dad and mom who were also visiting, and things began to get exciting. There is a peace that passes all understanding when we walk with the Lord. The first condition God had taken care of.

The plans began quickly and the tickets went on the credit card. After all, God was going to pay for it, right? I decided to ask friends and family to help me go on this trip if they wanted. The money began to come in, and I went to Kisii and enjoyed a growing time for myself and the members there. There were 193 from my site that chose to be baptized and many more were in Bible studies. A total of 1175 were baptized from the 17 sites that we evangelized. God is good all the time! God can even use me, and I know He has plans for you, too.

I got back on Tuesday and was home by Thursday, and I didn’t have enough to cover the entire trip, yet. If my God is capable of taking me on such a wonderful life changing trip, I’m sure He can take care of the money. On Saturday, the mail carrier dropped off the mail, and my wife said there was a letter from her uncle. He was someone I had asked to help fund my trip to Africa. You guessed it—the amount that he gave covered the rest of the trip. God is good all the time! We serve a gracious God that can take a sinner like me and use me for His wonderful and exciting work. Please give your life over to Him. Surrender to the life giving Savior. He will take you to places you could never imagine, and He’ll even pay for it. I’ll see you in Heaven, where all the praise will go to Jesus.