Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

"And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of my master Abraham, who hath not left destitute my master of His mercy and His truth: I being in the way, the LORD led me to the house of my master's brethren."¹

God certainly does move in mysterious ways ... and I am convinced that He also has a great sense of humor.

I had been single for a number of years and, at the time I am about to write about, besides my work with ACTS, I was also on the staff at the former Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. Some of you will be aware of the Cathedral's Christmas program, "The Glory of Christmas" which, if you ever had the opportunity to see it, you would have found it to be spectacular and inspiring.

I have written about this before but a decade-and-a-half or so ago it was the last night of "The Glory of Christmas" between the two presentations for the evening. There were some 2500+ people leaving via the side exits and another 2500+ people slowly entering via the front entrance. There were people everywhere—hundreds of them—as I crossed the plaza area on my way to teach a class in another building. All were moving forward except for one lady who was standing waiting. All I could see was her back. She could have been the wife of King Farouk for all I knew—or cared. Being in one of my fun moods, I walked up to the side of this lady and, extending my forearm, said, "Excuse me, lady, sorry to keep you waiting, but I'm your escort for the evening. Shall we go?"

She turned around and laughed hilariously. We visited for a while. I told her I was on the staff at the Cathedral ... she told me she was from Napa in northern California and was a widow. We hit it off and ended up exchanging phone numbers. I said to her, "You are brave giving a strange man your phone number." She replied, "What makes you think it's my phone number?" I asked her if she would like to do coffee after the program (and I hate coffee). She couldn't because she was waiting for her date for the evening. She also said if I was ever in Napa to get in touch. I said, "I think I'm coming there real soon." To let you in on a secret, I'd never heard of Napa and had no idea that it was 500 miles away!

Three years later we were married. Her name is Joy ... and she certainly is. She has been and is a true God-send in my life. She is now an equal partner doing all the ACTS office work and is a vital part of the gospel outreach of ACTS International.

Joy and I have lots of hilarious laughter in our life. For me life has never been better nor has it been more fulfilling. I often kid to Joy that she "being in the way, the Lord led me."

Now my question is: "Was this strange coincidence or was it divine guidance?"

I'll let you be the judge ... but as for me I certainly thank God for that very strange, funny, and most unusual meeting. And like I said, I do think God has a sense of humor.

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You that when I daily commit and trust my life and way to You, I have the assurance that through the good times and the bad, You lead me all the way. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Genesis 24:27 (KJV).

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