Vehicle Day

With a standard transmission, four-wheel drive, a roof rack, and a winch, it was an African safari vehicle at its finest. I mean, just look at this thing. You would want to drive this if you were going to live in Africa, wouldn't you? 

The only thing it lacks are zebra stripes. I told the missionaries to work on that for me while I am away.

This Nissan patrol belonged to a former missionary who was willing to sell it to me at an excellent price.  The only thing I needed to do was raise the money needed by September 14, which I affectionately named "vehicle day". Since I sent out my first appeal on August 16th, that didn't leave very much time to gather such a large sum of money. 

But nothing is too hard for the Lord, who has all the resources in the world, and who is not limited to our time frames. This is his story of how he made it happen. 

A few months ago, Geoffrey told me about a man from a church in Texas who was wanting to make a financial contribution to the mission. Geoffrey gave him my contact information so that he could help with the purchase of my vehicle since that was my most immediate need in getting to Burkina Faso. Geoffrey told me to expect a call from this man, so I waited. 

And waited. And waited long enough until I felt like it just wasn't going to happen. I never heard from him, so I let it go and believed the money would come from elsewhere. 

One Wednesday morning after I got off from work, I could not fall asleep. Considering that I normally can hardly get my scrubs off and fall in bed before practically falling asleep when I get home from work, this was strangely unusual. I couldn't fall asleep because I felt like I needed to check my email. How ridiculous, I thought to myself, just go to sleep and check your email when you get up. But I still could not rest, so I grudgingly opened my email account hoping that I would just check it real quick so that I could fall asleep. 

And there, lo and behold, was an email from the man from that church in Texas. He explained that he was meeting with his missions committee that night to discuss my vehicle, and he wanted me to call him so we could chat and he could ask me a few questions and get some information. 

In that moment, I realized that the Spirit of God had allowed no sleep to my eyelids until I checked my email. I would have slept through the entire thing and missed this opportunity! 

I called the man right away and explained to him how much money I had already collected and how much needed to be raised before September 14. Needless to say, I had a ways to go. 

I then slept soundly, and the Spirit even awoke me early before my alarm clock went off (which also never happens). Since that was probably about the time the committee was meeting, I took it as a sign to pray. 

On the way to work that Wednesday evening, my dad called me to talk about our options regarding the vehicle purchase. Since we still had a lot of money to raise with the deadline of September 14 quickly approaching, we needed to come up with a game plan. By the end of that conversation, my dad and I had decided to both contribute a large sum of money ourselves, trusting that God would bring the funds in to reimburse us. 

After a few hours at work, I had settled my patients in for the night, so I checked my cell phone for any texts or messages. Sure enough, I had a voicemail from an unknown number. One from Texas. It was that man, giving me a report from the missions committee meeting. "I hope this is good news," he said, "that our missions committee has approved a check to be written for the purchase of your vehicle." 

It was exactly the amount needed to complete the purchase. 

"Good news?!" I exclaimed as my mouth dropped open and all the nurses in the office turned to stare at my sudden outburst. "This is the best news I have received all year!" 

And so I got to share with all the nurses this story of God's faithfulness. Of God's perfect timing. Of his perfect provision. Of his blessings that we do not deserve. It a story of God's perfect ability to provide exactly what we need right on time - even from places that we have given up on and from people that we do not even know. It is a story of how God's Spirit intervenes on our behalf so that we don't miss what he wants us to hear, know, and experience with him. It is a story about how sometimes God wants us to be willing lay our own selves down first before he steps in and provides for us fully. 

It is a "God story" that I will keep on praising Him for, and I will keep on sharing and telling it so that others might also be inspired to trust God's provision in a new and possibly radical way, depending on the promise that he always provides exactly what we need at just the right time when we love and serve him with all our money and resources.

The complete and official check to purchase my new Nissan went out in the mail yesterday, September 11. I wonder if it will arrive to the missionary right on September 14, vehicle day. I wouldn't be surprised!

In the Old Testament, God's people had habits of naming monumental places where God showed up. 

Take Hagar for example. In a time of her absolute desperation, God showed up and opened her eyes to see a well, which she named, "the well of the Living One who sees me." (Gensis 16) 

When Jacob was on the run, fleeing from his own family, he had no place to lay his head except on a stone in the middle of nowhere. In that place, God appeared to him and gave him visions of angels and a promise to be with him and watch over him. Jacob named that place "Bethel", meaning "house of God". (Genesis 28)

After the Lord delivered Jehoshaphat and the Israelite army from an enemy that outnumbered them greatly, they gathered in a valley to praise the Lord. The valley was named the "Valley of Beracah", which means "valley of praise." (2 Chronicles 20)

Therefore, I am dedicating this vehicle and all it's future adventures to the Lord, for it was bought with his money and will be used for his purposes. And I am naming it "the faithfulness of God to provide". Maybe we will just call it Old Faithful for short. 

"My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19