WHY?
Ever wonder why things happen as they do? Especially when it's bad things happening to good people? I sure do. And, not to shock or disappoint you, but to be truthful - I don't have all the answers to that.
I was thinking about it this week because of our CLC missionary to Mongolia, Akilah Bronaugh. If you weren't here this past weekend when we prayed over her, she's a young single woman, a school teacher by profession, who decided to put her life here on hold for a year, while she travels to one of the most desolate and difficult places I've ever seen, to serve Christians there and hopefully, to help others become Christ-followers.
To make a long story short, she left Chicago on Monday night for LA and her connecting flight to Mongolia. However, the airline agent at O'Hare mistakenly took her next flight ticket with her boarding pass. The airline in LA told her this happens several times a week, but they weren't going to overlook it this time, so they refused to let her board. After spending the night at a hotel at her expense, and a long day of phone calls to the various airlines, travel agent and family, she was forced to purchase another ticket to replace the one the airline took at the cost of about $900. (They indicated that she could be reimbursed once the ticket situation is sorted out, but that it often takes about a year to do so!) Then and only then was she able to continue her journey and, thankfully, she is now in Mongolia with the missionary she'll be assisting.
WHY? There are several possibilities - as I've sometimes illustrated, if you woke up this morning to find a flat tire on your car, it may be (a) that the devil really wanted to frustrate you and interfere with your plan for today; or (b) that the Lord was looking out for you, perhaps protecting you from an accident that might have happened had you left on schedule; or (c) that your car ran over a nail last night on your way home. My point is that some things happen because we live in an imperfect, fallen world.
One thing I do know: God can (and probably already has) used this situation to prepare Akilah for certain difficulties and delays ahead during her service in Mongolia; and He wants to do the same for us. No matter what situation or circumstance we're in, He wants to use it for our benefit and His glory.
One more thing: if you'd like to be a blessing to Akilah, since she wasn't prepared for that extra expense, please send your gift to CLC, designated "Mongolia", and we'll get it to her. Blessings,
Jerry McQuay
Senior Pastor,
CHRISTIAN LIFE CENTER
www.clctoday.org
posted by Pastor Jerry McQuay at 1:18 PM
1 Comments:
We can certainly understand her frustration, especially loosing out financially. Only the Lord knows why He puts us in certain situations, and we can attest to that. A few weeks ago, we were asking the Lord why would you send us to such a dry place..both spiritually and physically..and why allow for us to run out of all our savings? But within a few days after our prayers and supplications, we received in the mail checks from different people, some not knowing our situation, and we got enough to cover our expenses for the next month. We know that The Lord will reward those who trust and step out in faith, and nothing we do for Him is in vain. Praise the Lord!!He is faithful.
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