We got a kingdom update on the back road last night (5-21-10). Enjoying time away to celebrate our anniversary in Steamboat, we went to the hot tub. Just as we arrived and settled in, we saw a young boy and girl heading over, obviously prepared to join us. Bummer! They arrived with their mom and we started some idle chatter.
We found out that they attend a church in Denver that we pass by every time we come to Steamboat. Also, there was one daughter who was not with them on this trip. She had just arrived home from a missions trip to Ecuador and was too tired to be dragged away for the weekend. I think they had gone to Chinquil, Ecuador. They helped with some VBS ministry and raised about $1000 to give to a family to build a new home. One thousand dollars goes a long way considering they live in a hut with paper walls.
It felt like we were each just passing by and sharing a few stories of Jesus as we rested in our journeys. It is strangely and deeply comforting to hear first-hand how God is moving in another person's life. We discovered a family here who is precious to Jesus. He is moving in each of them. This daughter had an incredible hands-on time watching Jesus at work in Ecuador and that spilled over to her family. We just got splashed with a bit as well.
The Kingdom is advancing, it cannot be stopped!
As I was writing about this experience I heard Jesus say “Make a big deal out of this David.” My mind responds “What's the big deal? Fifteen minutes of chatter in a hot tub?” I've heard about mission trips before. I've met christian families before. But this time God stopped me and impressed on me that EVERY time I meet a Christian family, and EVERY time I hear about a mission trip, I ought to make a big deal about it.
I was given a picture of our encounter and it wasn't meaningless chit chat in a hot tub. It was two sentries behind the battle lines meeting and sharing stories from the front. Whether we were between assignments, carrying a message to another Captain or bringing fresh supplies to another area of the battle, this meeting was important. And every time we pass their church we will be reminded to pray for the family that God made to cross our path. We will pray for them to be bold in their faith, for that 15 year old to remember how God moved in and through her in Ecuador, for the other teens on that trip and we will be refreshed by remembering that God is on the move. I got a notion and I don't have any particular Biblical reference to back this up, but I got a notion that Satan will be utterly confused at where the help for this family is coming from. His Kingdom is advancing forcefully.
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