The Providence of God

I recently returned from a trip to visit my daughter and then to visit my hometown of Dayton Ohio. I got to see a childhood friend that I have not had contact with for almost forty years. The two of us had gone our entire lives without contact with each other but when we saw each other he is a man I would still call my best friend. As we talked, I realized that there were many times in our lives that we both face the same choices but chose different paths. Out of high school, I was given the opportunity to go to college and study drafting, but I chose a different route.  There were times in my life when I walked with God and time when I walked away from God.  There are many people in my life who would never have believed that I would end up the servant of God I am today, and one of those was me. Thankfully one of those persons was not God. Jeremiah 29:11-14 (NIV) says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.”

That plan God has always had for me has brought me back to my childhood friend and shown me the providence of God’s plan because now after 40 years of being apart God kept us together as he is now also in the ministry, and God has me in a place where I am able to help him with his ministry when it really needs my help.