My pastor told a story today. He has opportunity to travel sometimes, and said today that he tries to always ask God to let him know if there's someone he comes in contact with who God wants him to do something for. So, its a Monday morning, very very early, and he's kinda hoping that God is going to go, "no, its okay, you can take today off." But he gets on the tram at the airport, and right in front of him is this man in a nice business suit who looks like he's very well off. And right as my pastor's noticing this, God says, "That man has a sexual addiction and it will ruin his life if he doesn't stop."
After some internal debate, as the next stop comes close, my pastor leans forward to the businessman and says, "Sir, you have an addiction that is controlling your life, and it will ruin your life if you don't stop it. God loves you, and he wants you to come home." Right then they get up to the stop, and this man goes to get off the stop...with a tear rolling down his cheek.
My pastor will probably never know what the outcome is going to be in this man's life, but it was obviously something the man needed to hear.
Francis Chan has amazing stories. He travels a lot, and does the same thing my pastor does with trying to reach out to whoever God points him to. There was one time where he missed an opportunity to speak to the girl beside him on the plane even though he knew he should have, and when he got on the plane home only a few hours later, she was sitting right beside him again, and after they were done laughing, he was able to tell her how God made sure she was placed beside him again. He's had an opportunity to tell a Muslim how much God in involved in his life, and the Muslim admitted that God was not involved in his life the same way and he wished he could have that.
One story I really liked was when he talked to God about whether or not it was right to put some extra money towards a family vacation instead of to the poor and needy. He didn't think there was any way to resolve it, because any extra money they might get, he'd feel the need to give to the poor. God is smarter than Francis Chan, however, and a few days later an anonymous $2000 cashier's check arrived in the mail with a sticky note that said only "Francis--use this on your family" so that now he'd feel guilty about NOT taking his family on vacation. The most amazing thing was that he hadn't told anyone about his desire to go on vacation, not even his wife.
A week or so ago, I was wishing I could be taking college classes right now instead of working full time to put Steven through college. Then I remembered something called Ministry Institute offered by my church. Very quickly, I was able to determine that this was a college-level class offered at my church through an accredited four-year Christian college in Oregon, and that I could audit it if I couldn't afford to to take it for college credits. And more than that--it starts this coming Thursday, and it happens to be on the books that I've been studying on my own before I even really knew about the class. My prayer was answered, and in such a way that it will further my theological knowledge.
This stuff doesn't happen just to pastors. This can happen to anyone. This can be you. I want it to be me, and it is slowly becoming so. If you walk in God's ways, the Spirit will lead you and your prayers will be answered, and all of it will be so amazing that you can only explain your life through God.
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