Awesome God – Amazing Week

We do indeed serve an awesome God. Proverbs 16:9 tells us He directs our steps. And that is exactly what He did in our recent mission to La Romana. The best way to share that story is a short series of posts. So please check back to get the big picture.

Awesome God – He Rules

Understanding an amazing mission week requires taking a backward glance. Before we are told that God directs our steps, the Word says a man makes his plans. Planning is necessary if we are to be good stewards of life, time and resources. That said, we always have to leave room for the unknown. And that’s more difficult than we like to admit.

My plans included a larger mission team. Our known workload was teaching a new course for pastors, providing a ministry project to (and for) those pastors as well as installng a water purification system. How many mission volunteers would that require? No matter my efforts, we never had more than a very small mission team. That was frustrating. But experience has taught me that God always calls, supplies and sends exactly what He needs. But a trying aspect of that statement of faith is that He never obligates Himself to consult us about His plans – no matter how much we wish He would! We just learn to trust our faithful Father.

Awesome God – Unseen Hand

We had a teaching team in La Romana this past August. They were instrumental in identifying the need for a water system. And in a matter of weeks the path to installing that system was made clear. The first step was a new well. It needed to be drilled before our February team arrived. But that didn’t happen.

What do you do when things don’t go according to plan? It’s easy to blame other people. The only cause for concern in this case might have been the contractor. He had several jobs to do and we were in line as the saying goes. And you can rest assured I inquired more than once during the final week before our departure. Not only was the well not drilled before we arrived, the contractor didn’t show up until our second day in La Romana!

Mission weeks are always fluid. Many opportunities pop up – or do they? What looks like a last minute opportunity is our awesome God directing our steps. But La Romana was all of that and more. It was the unexpected on steroids! And when we are on site – or in the moment – then His plans begin to come into view.

What would I have done if there had been a large team of people? And what if that larger team contained several first-time mission volunteers? Those questions, and ones like them, were irrelevant. We had a three person team of experienced volunteers. What had been somewhat frustrating to me back in the Fall turned to complete thanksgiving. God is good!

And just to complete the picture… The construction plan for the water system changed drastically after we arrived. Our usual and normal way to do this works very well. But in this location, other considerations made it necessary to adapt.

Long-term Impact

As mentioned in a previous post, (and this post), this water system will provide non-purified water for household purposes. It can also provide purified water for consumption – drinking and cooking. Prior to putting in the well, all 5,000 residents of this neighborhood had to purchase both grades of water. Now, the local church can meet this very practical need and do it in such a way that it saves money for the residents and generates enough income to maintain the system.

And one more thing. Jesus said that out of our innermost beings would flow rivers of living water, John 7:37-39. That’s how this well will serve long-term as an evangelism tool. Please pray for pastor Elias as he leads his church in evangelism. And please express your thanks to our awesome God. He does direct your steps!

Soli Deo Gloria!

PS – Please be sure to see the next post in this series. You may have guessed that the water system wasn’t the only thing that was unexpected by us.

The GALLERY below has more images for you. And you can donate HERE and we’d love for you to subscribe HERE!

Gallery

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  Installation prep

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  Pastor Elias with crew

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  Teaching pastor Elias about system use

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  Drilling

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  The gate

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