Seeing the Hand of God

Webster’s 1828 dictionary describes providence as “the care and superintendence which God exercises over His creatures.” I believe that every day and indeed every second of every day that God is in control. So often He is working in ways that we do not perceive because we are too busy. So I wanted to take some time and tell you about some ways that I perceive the providence of God in our lives recently.

We left the United States to travel to Mongolia on August 14, 2006. Just the week previous, the British government arrested several people accusing them of planning to blow up ten planes on trans-atlantic routes. Their method was to be a bomb using liquids that would be mixed together and detonated by a common electronic device. The result was increased security the day that we were scheduled to travel. The TSA workers even confiscated the peanut butter that we were planning to feed to our children while on the thirteen hour flight from Seattle to Seoul, South Korea.

In the past we had always flown from Portland to Los Angeles, changed terminals, boarded a plane for Seoul, and then changed planes for our flight to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. This time I had bought tickets in February for a Seattle to Seoul flight, followed by a Seoul to Ulan Bator flight. It involved a drive from Portland to Seattle. However, on August 14, I was glad for the drive. It meant that we only had to go through security one time, that is, in Seattle. Our old route through Los Angeles would have meant a second trip through airport security in Los Angeles when we went from one of the domestic terminals to the international terminal. So God providentially protected us from that situation when He directed me to buy tickets for a different route in February.

In a second act of providence, God arranged for me to meet Moogii when we arrived in Mongolia, but first, let me give you a little background. Moogii is a Mongolian man for whom I have been praying during the last six months that I was in the United States. (Strangely enough, Moogii in Mongolian means “mushroom.” I shared this with one church in the States and said that I was uncertain as to why Mongolian parents would name their son “Mushroom.” A witty friend remarked to me later that the parents named their son “Mushroom” because they wanted him to be a “fun guy” a play on word “fungi.”)

Anyway, I knew Moogii during our first term in Mongolia, but he said he was a Buddhist who was not interested in Christianity. I met him again, providentially, in the home of a friend during Tsagaan Sar during the trip that I took to Mongolia in February. I had the opportunity to spend some time with him and again approached the subject of teaching him a Bible lesson in his home. He was not as adamant about not being interested this time. Since that time I have been praying for an opportunity to be a witness to him.

I had asked Bob, my Mongolian friend for whom some of you have been praying, to pick me up at the airport. I told him that we would need a second vehicle to get all our luggage from the airport to our apartment. Bob chose to bring Moogii with him. I was not even aware that Moogii had a vehicle. So I rode with him back from the airport and had another opportunity to talk with him. Please pray for Moogii’s salvation as you pray for us.

A third act of providence happened at the airport when we lost a bag. But I’ll share more on that story in a later post.

A fourth instance of God’s care was the arrangements for the sale of our vehicle. I wanted to save my parents the hassle of finding a buyer for our vehicle. However, I also wanted to use the vehicle up until the day that we left for Mongolia. Those two goals seemed mutually exclusive until God provided a buyer who was willing to guarantee to buy the vehicle and wait until after I left for Mongolia to take possession of it.

God is good all the time even when we are in the midst of difficulties. But these four instances of God’s providence have reminded me that my trust in God is not unwarranted.