Glory to God 2

Despite the name, this event happened before the other Glory to God post, i just remembered it.

Africa 2006.  Drove 12 hours with 26 people in a cramped bus trying to get into Congo from the Zambian border. Long story short, didnt happen.  So at 8 pm, we are 12 hours from home (so to speak)  and the car breaks down, twice.  Already, we were told that had the bus broken down in Congo, we would all be killed in a cruel and unusual way.  So time passes, we end up on the side of the road with the leaders trying to find a place for us to sleep the night.  Mind you its like 10 pm in a less densely populated area, not to mention the saftey factor.

Gods Solution:  3 Rooms, and exactly 22 matresses in an oasis in the desert – probably most beatiful place in Zambia.  Lets break that down.  3 rooms, one for Bishop Paul, one for Abouna Elisha and Tasoni Manal, and one for Abouna Anthony. So lets see, 26 minus 4, carry the 1, wait, that equals 22! Once again, this is where you can start laughing at the way God works.  The following morning, we woke up to the most bueatiful sunrise, 3 hours to spend time with God in quiet time, and a meal prepared for us.  One more time – most places in Zambia dont have running water.  I know there was more thats escaping me now, but you do the math.

Glory to God

God has a hysterical way of making things work. I remember many times where I look around at what God is doing, and just laughing for an extended period of time. Today one happened that made me chuckle a bit. Well, at school right now was comfortably in bed at 3:20 am, then a firealarm goes off. Needless to say, I was mad. I dont know the temperature where you are, but in New Jersey, its gotta be below freezing. So instead of sitting outside, i decide to go to the next (heated!) building over. After laying on the couch for five minutes in a vain effort to get back to that comfortable sleeping state, i get up and out of the lounge to find a friend of mine. This friend is not Christian yet, but he told me that he is reading C.S Lewis’s Mere Christianity, and he had a question. So here we are sitting at 3:35 am, and for some reason im not tired anymore. Before he asked the question, i said a quick internal “arrow prayer”, and we went on to talk about his question.

When I got back to my dorm, I smirked at God. You now the 3 am part and that we happened to be in the same place, but beyond that, over summer we worked together and probably had one or two conversations small conversations (not arguements!) about God. Why he asked me, only God knows, but i have a prayer request: add a quick line about those strugling to find Christ. And GTG Forever Amen. (Revolution – GTG from “got to go” to “Glory to God”)

P.S. Also, God was trying to reinforce the quiet time for yesterday – “Early will I seek you” Psalm 63

Speaking at Queens

A couple days ago, my friend and I spoke at a church in Queens about our recent trip to Africa at the request of the Priest. On the drive up (from New Jersey) we were preparing a PowerPoint, thinking of witty things to say, stories that we had, pictures we took, and everything in our power that we could, but at every corner we were hindered. First by my laziness of not downloading the complete .ppt, then by being at a loss for word from two experienced speakers, and anxiety in general.

We looked at each other and just said, this is completely against what we experianced in Zambia. When we were there, we planned, we prepared, we did everything humanly possible beforehand, but as soon as we got there, God said no. Like Saint Paul says, we were hindered. In Acts 4:13, it doesnt say and the officials marveled because of how prepared they were, it says they marveled at their boldness, and they knew that they had been with Jesus. So with this, we spent the next 2.5 hours in prayer, spending time with Christ.

Then comes the time to speak, people keep pouring in, got to be like 10000 people there, and at least 130 degrees farenhiet (Both exagerations, inside Africa joke). From there on out, we spoke boldly about the great things God did through us and for us, and He was glorified. God willing, that church will send a group to Kenya, and I know God will do even greater things through them.