Last week I wrote about the idea of memorial stones—tangible reminders of God’s faithfulness. Today I’d like to share the first of three related events that happened quite a while ago, but which still feed my faith today.

It was October, 1992. Pete had been invited to a major mission conference to be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, to provide technical training for the attending missionaries….

Our whole family [Pete, myself, and our two elementary school-aged daughters] got up at about 4 a.m. for the hour-long shuttle ride to the airport. We arrived at 5:30 for the 6:45 flight. As we collected our luggage, we suddenly realized that Pete’s black computer bag was not among the suitcases. That computer was rather critical to the success of a trip that was mainly technical! Yet, there was simply no time to go back home and get it.

After a quick prayer, Pete ran to a pay phone [this was 1992 remember] to call my good friend down the street. Perhaps her husband would be willing to break into our home, grab the bag, and drive it to the airport. The telephone rang and rang… little did we know that this night, as they often did, they had turned off the ringer so they wouldn’t be disturbed in their sleep.

But God…

Having wakened early, my friend’s husband (not yet a believer) decided to pick up the phone for no apparent reason! He was quite surprised that there was somebody on the other end wanted to talk to him. The conversation was rather confused, going something like this:

Pete: Hello?
Friend: Hey! There’s somebody on the phone!
Pete: Well, yes, I just called you!
Friend: But the phone never rang!
Pete: Then why did you pick it up?
Friend: I don’t know… this is really weird!

In any case, he agreed to try to deliver the bag. Thank you!!!

The kids and I proceeded through security and on to our gate, while Pete waited on the curb. Time passed. The flight started boarding. More time passed. The three of us got on the plane, stowed our bags, and buckled our seatbelts.

The gate agent announced her final boarding call…

With literally seconds to spare, Pete came running up to the gate, down the ramp, and plunked into the seat next to me, computer in hand. Talk about relief!

And our friend’s non-believing husband had something interesting to think about, knowing that he had been used by God to redeem a potentially disastrous situation.

I love hearing stories about God at work in our lives. What’s yours?