a reason to hurry.

I got a phone call from a woman last week that caught my attention.  She had recently come home from spending a week in Monterrey with Back2Back and was interested in sponsoring one of the children she had connected with.  Nothing too unusual about that.  (If you met these kids, you'd probably call me too).  What made the phone call unusual was that she wanted to come into the office to drop off the money right away.  Usually people will wait for me to mail them a Welcome Packet and send their first payment back through the mail.  This woman couldn't wait that long.  That afternoon she came in with gift wrapped presents and a check book.  She apologized for keeping me waiting (as if I should have expected her to come straight after we hung up the phone).  As I sat down with her and started getting her all set up for sponsorship, she began to tell me her story.  Her and her husband went down to Monterrey because her son, who worked at a church, invited them.  They had attended the church off and on, but the gospel was never real to them.  In Monterrey, they met a teenage girl who had been abandoned by her family, yet put her faith in a God who loved her enough to send His son to die for her.  That kind of faith, in spite of circumstances, opened her eyes to the reality of Jesus as Savior.  Her and her husband came home and were baptized the following Sunday.  She had written this orphan girl a letter, telling her the impact her faith had on her and her husband's life.  She couldn't wait to get it to our office and begin sponsoring her.  I was just blessed enough to be the one to pass that letter along.
One of my favorite things about God is how His plans are so much better than ours.  This woman thought she was doing God a favor and going on a trip to Monterrey to change the life of an orphan.  God smiled at her good intention, and decided to do her one better.  He sent the orphan to her to change her life.