God’s Handiwork in Our Travels
July 19th, 2010 by blog
By Matt Wills
A couple weekends ago, a few of us travelled to Chicago to help a new staff member and his family move to Toronto.The weekend was a great success, and we had a lot of fun while travelling. One particular event clearly showed how God softened people’s hearts and aided us in our travels. Our biggest concern with travelling was getting back into Canada. Kyle, our new staff, needed to get a work permit for Canada and we weren’t sure that the border guards would issue one. To complicate matters, all of Kyle’s possessions were loaded up into a truck, and ready to cross with him. If the border guards were being strict, we might not have been able to cross the border, or there could have been a load of import taxes applied to the stuff in our truck.
We waited for about 30 minutes in our truck, inching along the bridge in Sarnia, waiting for our turn to talk to the customs official. When we finally got to the front of the line we met a customer official who asked a lot of questions about Grace – about our location, the size of the congregation, whether we needed an assistant pastor, what denomination we belonged to, and so forth. We were a little shocked at the depth of her questions, and at times it felt like we were being interrogated. Eventually, she was satisfied, and we were sent inside to talk with an agent.
While Kyle was being interviewed separately, I had some interesting interactions with other border agents. The customer official that had interrogated us came inside and said “do you go to Grace?”, and I told her that I did. She then asked if she could come to pub night*! As it turns out, she was asking these questions because she too went to a Presbyterian church and wanted to prove to her coworkers that young people still attend church!
While the agent was talking with Kyle, the customer official I talked to told the agent that Kyle “checked out”, and that seemed to speed up the process. In the end, we got everything we needed in record time!
God’s hand was evident throughout our travels, as in this story. It reminds me of Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”
How can we trust God more in our daily life? Do you recognize all the ways that God walks with you?
*Editor’s Note: Pub Night is a regular event hosted by the Faith and Work Ministry of Grace Toronto. See http://www.gracetoronto.ca/ministry/faith-work/ for details on future events.
One Response to “God’s Handiwork in Our Travels”
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That is just too providential! It’s amazing humour; God is always giving us something to talk about.