{providence} Imperfect man who recognized God's ProvidenceJohn Smith of the 1600s is known by many as an explorer and resident of the original Jamestown settlement. Through his leadership and dedication, Jamestown continued amidst great suffering, contentions, and indian attacks. While many have been seeking to discredit this imperfect founding father of America, there was one thing John Smith understood: ‘the Providence of God.’

{providence} John Smith could not believe that one would fail to recognize God's ProvidenceJohn Smith saw the value of journaling and did so extensively. In one entry, Smith recounts how appalled he was by his fellow shipmates’ overlooking of God’s Providence. A seemingly basic truth was being neglected and Smith could not understand why. May I submit that the Church in America is forgetting the Providence of God.

{providence} The Location of a Divine EncounterA couple days ago, Sarah and I entered our local Home Depot to return an unneeded chemical. A bit of disappointment arose as I saw a very long line in front of me. The gentleman behind me shared the same feelings :-) . We decided that to avoid returning items on Thursday afternoons may not be a bad idea in the future. The two of us struck up a conversation.

{providence} The tool to remind me of God's ProvidenceHe was returning a dysfunctional water heater. This sparked a lively discussion on the woes and pending dooms of water heaters. The young man went on to explain that prior to discovering the malfunctioning heater, he had been at work one day and was planning on visiting a friend that evening. A strange prompting urged him to choose rather to go home and check his water heater. Following the leading, the young man discovered a deadly leak. Quick action was taken and devastating destruction averted. My natural response was, how fortunate you were. Whoa! I quickly caught myself and said, “I call that divine intervention.” Our conversation soon ended and I walked away with a divine impact!

Do we view life as God’s divine intervention in the creation of a beautiful tapestry called His Providence? Sufferings, successes, failures, humiliations, joys, promotions, education, and more are all key parts in the formation of God’s unique purpose for our life!

“…All things work together for good…(Rom. 8:28).”

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 7:10 pm and is filed under HIS-story, Ministry Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.