A
Missionary told this true story while visiting
his home church in Michigan.
While serving at a small field
hospital in Africa, every two weeks I traveled by
bicycle through the jungle to a near by city for
supplies. This was a journey of two days and
required camping overnight at the halfway point.
On one of these journeys, I arrived in the city
where I planned to collect money from a bank,
purchase medicine and supplies, and then begin my
two-day journey back to the field hospital.
Upon arrival in the city, I
observed two men fighting, one of whom had been
seriously injured. I treated him for his injuries
and at the same time witnessed to him of Lord
Jesus Christ. I then traveled two days, camping
overnight, and arrived home without incident.
Two weeks later I repeated my
journey. Upon arriving in the city, I was
approached by the young man I had treated. He
told me that he had known I carried money and
medicines. He said, some friends and I followed
you into the jungle, knowing you would camp
overnight. We planned to kill you and take your
money and drugs. But just as we were about to
move into your camp, we saw that you were
surrounded by 26 armed guards. At this I laughed
and said that I was certainly all alone out in
that jungle campsite. The young man pressed the
point, however, and said, "No sir, I was not
the only person to see the guards. My five
friends also saw them, and we all counted them.
It was because of those guards that we were
afraid and left you alone." At this point in
the sermon, one of the men in the congregation
jumped to his feet and interrupted the
missionary, asking if he could tell him the exact
day that this happened. The missionary told the
congregation the day, and the man who interrupted
told him this story.
On the night of your incident in
Africa, it was morning here and I was preparing
to go play golf. I was about to put when I felt
the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of
the Lord was so strong, I called men in this
church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to
pray for you. Would all of those men who met with
me on that day stand up?
The men who had met together that
day stood up. The missionary wasn't concerned
with who they were - he was too busy counting how
many men he saw. THERE WERE 26!
The story is an encouraging
example of how the spirit of the Lord moves in
mysterious ways.
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