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I arrived home late last night but the computer I do live broadcasts from is still not working so I will continue with the “Jesus In the Midst of Disaster” stories.  If you’re a NCIS fan, you may recognize the title of this post as one of Gibb’s rules.  If you’re a Christian, you should recognize the title as one of God’s rules.

There Is No Such Thing As a Coincidence

Part of the work of Impact Prayer Ministry is a section I call Wee Care Relief Ministry.  Through this, I collect diapers and funds for diapers and take them to disaster areas to be given to people in need.  Fortunately, I had restocked my supply following Hurricane Ida a few months ago and had a pickup truck load of diapers to take with me to Kentucky.  Sometimes when I volunteer with IDES for disaster response, the church they partner with is distributing supplies to people in need and other times they see others taking care of that need and focus primarily on the cleanup and recovery from the property damage.  On this trip, our focus was on tree and debris cleanup initially and the church had given me names of a few places I could take the diapers to. 

With so much damage and destruction needing my attention, the diapers stayed in my truck parked at the church for a full seven days while I was waiting for a time I could break away from the cleanup work to take them to a distribution site.  Finally, after seven days of being parked, some logistical issues required that I use my truck to get to the homes where we were working and to drive around the area scouting out further needs that we could help with.  As I’m doing so, I drive past a church with a sign out front stating they are doing a drive-thru distribution of supplies that day to people in need due to the tornado.  I soon found a safe place to turn around and got in the line waiting to talk to someone.  The first person greeting people in their vehicles was friendly when I pulled up to him, and he asked if I needed supplies.  My response was, “Actually, no, I have diapers.”  I think he heard me to say I needed diapers because he told me they were out of diapers.  When I clarified that I had a pickup load of diapers they could have if needed, he immediately called out to the volunteer ahead of him.  This volunteer confirmed what I had and then headed toward the front of the line telling the volunteers there to stop the car that was leaving — it was a family needing diapers.  I was quickly directed around the line so I could unload the diapers and baby wipes I had with me.  We first found the size needed by the person who had almost left empty-handed, then unloaded the rest of the truck.  I watched as each car in line while I was there pulled up and I saw diapers being handed to every one of them.  Wow!  What a coincidence that I drove by on the day they were distributing supplies, saw the sign, and arrived just at the time when what I had was what they needed!  A coincidence?  Absolutely not!  God kept those diapers in my truck for a time and place of His choosing so that they could bless both people in need and those helping meet that need.

And the story doesn’t end there.  Once the truck was unloaded and I was ready to leave, I found myself still in the line of cars driving through and was stopped behind one of them at another area of the church lot where they were giving out toys for Christmas.  That volunteer came and asked the number and ages of people in my family.  I explained why I was there and that I wasn’t in line to pick up toys so he went to help the next guest behind me.  As I continued to wait in line so I could get through and go on my way, a lady came out of the area where they were sorting toys and asked if she could pray with me.  She said there was a sense of God’s power and presence surrounding the truck and felt she should come and pray in that place.  We had a great time praying for those in need and for each other.  As we finished praying, the car in front of me was receiving what they needed and began to move so I could also go on my way and return to finding even more people in need who needed help.  Jesus was present in the midst of details that only He could orchestrate in just the right way at just the right time.

In prayer,
Tom