“Where were you when the Joplin tornado hit?” I asked Matt Proctor, President of Ozark Christian College, that question after the F5 tornado roared through Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011. Matt related a harrowing, yet inspirational experience.
“My wife Katy and I were driving two vans loaded with kids back from a youth outing. We heard the tornado warnings and were scurrying to get them back safely to the church. A second siren sounded and suddenly a vicious wind picked up and the rain and hail began pelting us so hard we could barely see to drive.
Katy was in the lead van when it just so happened that a huge tree came crashing down in front of her vehicle and she skidded to a stop just inches from the fallen tree. We both jumped out of our vans, hurried the kids up to the nearest house and pounded on the door. A complete stranger welcomed us in and quickly ushered us into the basement.
After the storm died down we came out to discover that if that tree had not stopped us, we would have driven directly into the path of the tornado just 100 yards up the road. That tornado had absolutely leveled everything in its path. If that tree had not abruptly blocked our path we all would have been killed or seriously injured.” Matt added, ‘You’ll never convince us that God did not intervene and spare our lives that day.”
We often wonder why God doesn’t exempt His people from suffering, and admittedly, that’s a difficult question. After all, 161 people died in the Joplin tornados that day. But, truth be known, God probably protects us from many tragedies that were not even aware of.
Author, preacher, J. Wallace Hamilton once wrote about a mother cat with a baby kitten in her mouth, which was trying to get across a busy New York City intersection. She’d dart out into the street, nearly get hit by a honking car and dash back to the safety of the sidewalk. A compassionate traffic policeman saw her plight and put up his hands to halt traffic in both directions. The mother cat then scurried across the street and disappeared down an alleyway.
Hamilton pointed out that the cat had no idea that the power of the New York City police department intervened to get her safely across. I wonder how many times the mighty hand of God goes up to protect us or get us safely to the appropriate destination and we’re not even aware of it. We think an unusual circumstance is just a coincidence but it’s really a God-incident in which He is directing our path.
There are a number of, “It just so happened” incidents in the Bible. Isaac’s servant was searching for a wife for his master. He sat down to take a break at a watering hole when it just so happened that Rebekah came to draw water for her family.
Joseph’s brothers beat him up and threw him into a cistern and intended to let him die. But it just so happened that a band of Ishmaelite traders came passing by at that time. The brothers sold Joseph to them as a slave and Joseph was carted off to Egypt where an important chapter in history was about to be made.
Ruth was gleaning in a wheat field, trying to find enough to eat. But it just so happened that the owner of the field, a wealthy bachelor, took notice of her and a significant romance began.
Mary was told she was to give birth to the Messiah. But Mary was from Nazareth and the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. But it just so happened that when the baby was due, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world was to be taxed. So Joseph took Mary, his fiancé, and headed for Bethlehem, the home of his ancestors.
Paul and Silas were imprisoned in Philippi. But at midnight, it just so happened that an earthquake shook open the prison gates open and released everyone from their shackles. As a result a meaningful revival broke out in that Macedonian city.
I’m not a hyper-Calvinist who believes that God causes everything that happens. Ozark Christian College professor Seth Wilson once quipped that God is so much in charge that He can program free will into us if He desires. We are not puppets on a string. But I can look back at my life and see times when God intervened to direct my path when I wasn’t even aware of it.
As a freshman in Cincinnati Bible College I attended the Conference on Evangelism in November of 1961. It just so happened that a girls trio, ‘The Golden Belles”, was singing that morning. I couldn’t take my eyes off the girl in the middle–Judy Thomas. “Now there’s a spiritual girl,” I thought to myself. Not really! I thought, “Wow! She’s really pretty…and so poised.” It just so happened that I bumped into that same girl in the hallway afterward and struck up a conversation. A little over three years later we were married. And Judy has been the ideal preacher’s wife for me for 47 years.
One Sunday morning in February of 1966 it just so happened that half of the segment of a pulpit committee that was supposed to come hear me preach couldn’t make the trip. John Cunningham called Mildred Divine the night before and said, “I’m sorry I can’t go to Monterey, Ohio tomorrow to hear that young preacher we’re supposed to check out. I’m not feeling well.”
Mildred Divine hung up the phone and said to her mother, “John and Vela Cunningham can’t go tomorrow, would you be willing to make the three hour drive with me?” Viola Divine was in her late seventies but agreed to go. It just so happened that it was the positive testimony of Viola Divine that persuaded the rest of the pulpit committee and the elders to bring me in for a trial sermon.
The point? Quit worrying so much about your future. Don’t try to manipulate people to get your way. Don’t fret that unpleasant interruptions are going to deny you your big opportunity. Trust that God is in charge and He will accomplish His will in your life in His time.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight”(Proverbs 3:5-6).
