#3 - Ah, Yes, Those God-Moments!

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In Joshua 4:1-9, after the people of Israel have miraculously crossed the Jordan River, God had the people build a memorial to remind them of God’s work on their behalf. After the Israelites had failed to remember God’s work of helping them to cross the Red Sea and to escape the Egyptians and shortly afterwords began complaining about the inconveniences they experienced in their travels, it was obvious God had to help them with their short-term memory problem.

Do you find yourself at times getting discouraged in your walk with God? I know I do. One of the things that helps me in those times is to remember how faithful God has been to me in the past, to especially remember those “God-moments” For this reason, I have been keeping a “God-Moments” journal to record not just answers to prayer but those awesome times when God does something that is so special that you feel as though you’ve been literally touched by His Holy Spirit.

One of those special moments for me happened several years ago. I was looking for a new church home and I was meeting with the pastor for the first time. I was looking forward to just spending the time just getting to know him as a person – where he was born, grew up, how he came to receive Christ, etc. Instead, the focus ended up being on me and it ended with my being told that their church didn’t want me to volunteer to work with their youth and that maybe I should consider that GOD, after all, didn’t want me to work with youth. (I had been involved in direct ministry to youth for 6 years by then.)

I remember driving away from that church stunned and confused that God had given me a deep desire to impact the lives of teens, I had enjoyed the efforts I had made, and yet was now told by a “professional” (someone having a seminary degree which I didn’t) minister that I wasn’t supposed to do that. (I learned the next day that the pastor’s opinion was not based on Scripture but just on his limited, personal opinion, and therefore was lacking any real authority.) About 5 minutes later, I pulled up at the pillar of mailboxes near my home to pick up my mail. After I removed the mail, I heard a voice behind me and turned and saw a middle school boy who was one of my neighbors. It was just turning dark and Matthew had been standing near his home in a spot with no light and so when he stepped out I was startled. Matthew had a big smile on his face and had his hand stretched out as he walked towards me. I had only met him once about a year before when I had gone from neighbor to neighbor asking if they had seen my new pet cat that had suddenly dashed out of the house. I was obviously embarrassed that I didn’t remember his name but Matthew re-introduced himself and asked me how my cat Purrty was doing and then he pointed across the street to his own cat. I was amazed as I did not know Matthew had a pet cat and had not met someone Matthew’s age that had a pet cat; boys I had known only had pet dogs and tended to make fun of cats. Soon, we were exchanging stories about each other’s cat when suddenly one of Matthew’s friends walked up and we started talking about HIS cat!

It wasn’t long before the three of us were talking like long time friends when Matthew suddenly stopped and pointing to my car and asked me if I shouldn’t turn the engine off as I had left it running since I had planned to just dash to the mailbox, get my mail and drive away. It would have made perfect sense for me to pause, walk over to my car, and turn the engine off. But I suddenly sensed God’s Spirit telling me not to do that and so I turned to Matthew and said, “No, that’s okay, let the engine run” and we continued talking. Several minutes later, first Matthew’s friend and then Matthew excused themselves to go home. I then got into my car, turned it around, and drove the half block to my home and went inside.

As I was getting ready for bed, I started thinking about why I had not turned off the car’s engine when Matthew alerted me to it and almost instantly I knew that my conversation with those boys was a “God-moment” that had soothed the hurt and confusion I had felt just minutes before. That conversation served as God’s way of reminding me of His call on my life and that despite what that pastor had said, I was (and am) able to interact with teens and could make an impact on their lives if given the opportunity. Had I stepped away for the few seconds it would have taken to break off the conversation, either of those boys could have become distracted and I would not have had a conversation to return to. I was having great fun and I just didn’t want to risk doing that and letting go of that special “sacred” moment, even if my car engine ran idle till I had burned off all the gasoline in the tank! On reflection, I realized that only God could have arranged for that meeting because otherwise there is no way of explaining my running into both boys at that time and of our having instantly found a common point (our pet cats) to converse about other than the provision of God. Furthermore, it’s been over 2 years since that conversation and I have only recently seen Matthew again, and I have never run into neither of them “by accident” since.

In closing, may I just repeat what I said in my first posting: I hope that YOU will determine as soon as you can what it is that gives you joy in doing, what God has given you a passion and giftedness for doing and just go out and do it. If you especially know in your heart that God is directing you to want to impact others in a certain way, then don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Listen to God’s Spirit and He will confirm – sometimes with “God-moments”- what He is calling you to do. Dare to dream and to step out to pursue that dream, even if it means taking a risk and not playing it safe. My mailbox “God-moment” reminded me that it’s fine to listen to the advice of others, but what really matters is what I determine God is directing me to do and doing only that with all my heart.

And finally, I encourage you to keep a “God-moments” journal. And if you have a special entry you would like to share with others to encourage them, PLEASE send it to me and I will post it on this blog site (or if I receive many, maybe a separate blog site.) And be sure to let me know if you want to remain anonymous. One of my hopes is that you will be able to come to this site regularly and read about what exciting thing God has done in the lives of others and can certainly do in yours.

This blog site will be particularly special if people like YOU sharing their “God-moments”- and also their struggles and challenges - with others.