Amazing LORD, God Almighty, for the
past four days, I’ve found myself even more moved with compassion for those
caught in the path of Hurricane Sandy. So, today I stood in line waiting to
mail a package to the East Coast. Because I was unable to personally share my
story of hope with these now devastated people, I decided to send bibles and
cleaning supplies in my place.
The line was short and there was no
one behind me. For some odd reason, a
third postman suddenly appeared at his station. "Next please," he
called out as he took a sip of his water bottle. I walked over to where the man
stood and greeted him softly. "Hi. How are you?" I humbly asked.
Then, I began to explain my desire to have this particular package reach the
East Coast by Thanksgiving Day. "Probably not possible?" I questioned.
"Now wait a minute!" The
man argued with a tone! Then, he began to
explain how I could send the package through the express mail for a bit more
money. I just listened. When he finished explaining my options, I said,
"Oh praise God!" The man scowled. Instantly, my mind flashed back to
an earlier time when I had overheard another customer complaining about this
particular postman. "He is cranky all the time!" The other man
grunted while standing behind me in line.
Suddenly, I felt a need to explain
the purpose of the package. "You see, I am sending a Bible and a modest
gift to the people hit hardest by the hurricane on the East Coast. I am a
full-time Evangelist and I am feeling led by God to send this gift to
them." I had caught his attention. With defenses enabled, he looked
straight at me and said, "Just how exactly did God tell you to do
this?" For a moment, I felt as though I was a small child again and I was
in trouble. Was I being asked to defend my relationship with You?
I took a deep breath. I could feel
the blood rushing to my cheeks as I blushed. Then, suddenly Your Holy Spirit
gave me words to speak. I was not alone. "I just opened my Bible. The pages landed as they may and I began
to read. Passages about bringing hope to others leaped off the pages. Then, when I turned on the News channel, my heart began to deeply ache for
this certain group of people. So, I prayed for confirmation. Suddenly,
circumstances all seemed to fall into place.” Next, I shared with the postman
about my recent propane tank blessing. “There was plenty of hot water when
there shouldn’t have been any,” I said.
“I believe God used the situation to spur additional empathy." Immediately
afterward, I began sharing my testimony. The man remained quiet and poised. He
kept his head down as he added a postage sticker to the small package, and then
reached out for my credit card.
I wonder now if he was preparing a response while I spoke. Because the
minute I had finished sharing my testimony, the man quickly responded.
"Well to that, I share this Chinese
proverb." He began to tell a story about a man whose stallion had run
away. He said, "And all the people in the town said, 'What a terrible
thing!' But the man in the proverb simply replied, 'How do you know?' "
After the postman had finished
sharing the proverb, he looked straight at me and skeptically questioned,
"So, how do you know? You are assuming that the storm was a bad thing! How
do you know that God did not send the storm?" His posture was now even
more rigid and unyielding. Then the man turned his back to me. He began to walk
towards the back room of the post office. While
he was still nearby, I replied. "I am not saying that it's bad. I tell
everyone that the night of my arrest was the best night of my life." The
man continued to walk away. And, as he walked away, he continued to loudly
repeat the same question, "How do you know?" "How do you
know?" "How do you know?" He said one last time as he faded from
sight.
"Sam?" I called out. The
man poked his head around the corner of the tall metal racks. "The answer
to your question is FAITH," I
replied. Unbelievably, Sam's face lit up! And as I turned to walk away, so did
mine!
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