Remember, You go nowhere by accident

Each Wednesday brings a unique group of people together and sometimes something amazing comes out of the mix.  We had a dilemma last Wednesday – one I have not experience in the 9 years of doing RITI.  Because of the situation, I had to call the RITI director which I also had not done in 9 years.  It seems we had a stowaway on the van.  Ray told us he had heard his name called and he just followed the others to the van, but his name was not on our list.  Who was he? Was he supposed to go to another church?  Or was he turned away because there were not enough beds and he was a young man with low priority.

Of course I did not notice him right away because I had to run to Walgreens – first for laundry detergent and the second time for one of the women neighbors (that’s another story).  By the time I got back, Pastor Al of the Walking by Faith church had welcomed the guests and everyone was busy collecting laundry and getting into clean clothes.  There was Ray – my new problem.  He did not look like a problem – he was clean, soft spoken and happy to be at our church.  He did not want to cause a problem – but he was one.  So I went home to call Julie, the RITI director and Jane sat down to have dinner with him.  After I spoke with Julie, she had to get home in order to check her database to see if he had checked in.  By the time she called me back with the unfortunate news that he was a stowaway and had not checked into the system, Ray had eaten dinner and was attending Pastor Al’s bible study.  She told me we had to send him to the shelter downtown as he could not be rewarded for cheating the system. 

I called Jane back to give her the bad news and tell her I would come up to tell him, but she would have none of that.  She said she had spoken with Ray and she felt he needed to be there that night and she could not in good conscience turn him away.  She said she had to step out in faith – throw out the rules and listen to what God was telling her to do.   She had spoken to Joe and he was in total agreement.  As I wrestled with the decision, Craig quoted me the blessing that Ron gives at the end of each service –

            Remember, you go nowhere by accident,

            Wherever you go, God is sending you.

            Wherever you are, God has put you there,

            God has a purpose in your being there.

            Christ Who indwells you has something

            God wants to do through you where you are.

            Believe this and go in God’s grace and love and power.

 I still wondered if I had made the right decision to allow Ray to spend the night, but at 8:30 that next morning when Jane called me, I realized that it had nothing to do with me or my decision, but it had everything to do with God.  Jane told me she had a life altering event that night – and when someone that has had cancer tells you that – well you know God was at work that night.  It seems Pastor Al gave a bible study that people were desperate to hear and when he finished, he and Ray spoke for over an hour and after that Jane and Joe and Ray stay up until 11:30 PM sharing their stories, struggles and faith in God.  God’s healing words were delivered that night to our most unlikely guest – our stowaway.  And God’s purpose was fulfilled because Jane, Joe and Pastor Al were listening to His call.