God's Perfect Timing

This is not exactly the blog I thought I'd be writing this evening, but sometimes life's events and circumstances have a way of forcing things upon you. Then again, maybe it's not so much about life as it is about God, using His ways, to get our attention.

This afternoon, while finishing off my lunch, I had a very peculiar and interesting thing happen to me. As I was taking the last bite of my sandwich (actually I was finishing Seth's), my top left front tooth fell out of my mouth. I know, "nasty, gross, thanks for sharing." Good thing I didn't share the picture with you, I guess.

Here's the interesting tidbit: we are presently 5 hours away from home on a Partnership Development trip. We've already shared time with two pastors this week and have one more visit tomorrow as well as to a church tomorrow evening. Perfect timing you say?

Actually, outside of the immediate "I can't believe this just happened" (although I've been somewhat expecting it for two years) and the occasional chuckle (of love I'm sure) from those closest to me, it's really not been that traumatic, painful, or emotional. It is definitely a God thing, but almost immediately God began to reveal how perfectly timed this incident really was. You see, although we're 5 hours from home right now, we will be home for 2 days at the end of this week where I will be seeing my dentist. Come Saturday, we are out of state (more than 14 hours at one point) for those next three weeks.

There have been some who have suggested that perhaps this was an attack of the devil since God has been moving so miraculously on our behalf these past couple of weeks (in relation to our family and Partnership Development). The more I processed that, the more I came to the conclusion that this was not an attack at all by anybody. I truly believe that God is using this incident as another sign that He is preparing to release our family to Central America on August 24th. In this regard, He is allowing me to receive the utmost dental care at a place I trust from a man who we hold in high esteem. Can you imagine if this would have happened five short weeks from now; who knows what kind of "emergency" dental care I could find.

God continues to reveal His prefect plan, set upon His perfect timing. There have been so many things lately that would indicate to us that God is "preparing the way." From our support level (number of monthly/recurring financial partners) jumping 17% in just over a week (now at 75% raised); to Barry III and Austin's amazing God encounters at Teen Camp two weeks ago (if you haven't seen the video of them sharing, check out Christy or my wall on Face Book from July 14th); to now this, we are convinced in our hearts, even though there is still a God-sized miracle in front of us, that God is preparing to release us for this next phase of the journey come August 24th (keep believing and praying with us).

I want to challenge you to look around in your life. What examples are there of God working out His perfect timing? You might have to take a second look (or bite) but it's there.

With love,
Barry