Maybe because your awareness is greater when you are on a trip in another country. Or maybe it is because you depend on God more when you are out of your own comfort zone.  But it  was definetly the result of prayers  that  had a great affect on the Divine Timing we saw throughout this trip.

WE arrived on time to Quito and then headed to the airport at Shell Ecuador.  This is the same landing strip where Jim Elliot and Nate Saint left from more than fifty years ago when they went to reach an unreached people in the jungle and gave their lives as Martyrs for the Gospel.  In fact the house that Nate Saint lived in is still their right next to the runway.

We took off from Shell in small airplanes three or four people at a time to take the 45 flight to Jempentes.  Each seemed that after we arrived things went so smoothly as we transitioned our minds and bodies into a new culture that none of us were familiar with.  God's divine timing to have just the right people and the right number on this trip is always a wonder to me. We had eleven total on our team which was just the perfect number not to many that people would be standing around looking for something to do and not too few that would hinder the work from being accomplished.

There were three incredible instances that we know about that showed us that God had us there in the village at the right time.  On Wednesday as we were finishing the church structure and had already put up the radio tower, the village had two visitors who had walked more than eight hours to get their. They walked in and begin to talk to one of the missionaries and a Shaur Pastor. These two were members of a very violent group called the Aukshaur. The Aukshaur people are  remote and very difficult to interact with.  You can not come into their village without invitation because if you do you may never get out.  The Aukshaur area people group of about 15,000 with little or no witness of the Gospel. These two Aukshaur came on that day by divind providence and it so happened that they saw all our team was doing and how hard we worked. They also realized that we were not oil people or some group trying to take advantage of the people. The Aukshaur asked about us and what we were doing the Pastor and Missionary told them all that we were offering to the villagers.  The Aukshaur listened and were so impressed by what they saw that they said to the Pastor. If these people will work this hard here we want them in our village as well. What a miracle and what incredible timing to have them come on that day.

Another instance took place as some of our team was leaving on to go back to Shell on Thursday afternoon.  Because of the short runway our plane could only take off with about 400 pounds aboard so this meant that only two people could get out and only a total of five from the team would make it back to shell that day. It was necessary to ferry two passengers at a time via the small aircraft to a near by village which had a longer runway.  In that village some of our folks were waiting and a missionary and a Pastor were there.  They begin to talk with the villagers and listened as they told them they had heard about our team and what we were doing in the village.  God opened up some incredible doors of oppurtunity for one of the Pastors to share in that village with no gospel witness.

God's Divine Timing is at work long before we arrived in Ecuador.  When deciding the dates of trip and working with Joil Marbut our missionary there we decided ot come on the 12th of August and leave on the 20th. At the same time the Lord was organizing a team of three a Doctor and two assistants from Kentucky and Alabama, who would come into the village of Jempentes on the 20th and offer medical care to the same village where we had just installed the water treatment systems the church and the tower.  How awesome to think that the people we made contact with and had favor with would open a door for this medical team to treat the physical needs of the people.  God orchestrated all of this long before we got there. 

In addition to these things God's perfect timing was shown in numerous ways as he protected us and lead us.  In fact even our flight back to the states was a God thing.  When you fly to Ecuador it is always much better to leave BWI and fly to Miami and then return to Miami on the way home. This shortens the trip by about an hour.  But for some reason we could not book a flight through Miami that would work for the team. We tried several times but to no avail.  As we prepared to come home from Quito on Monday we understood why. Hurricne dean was positioned directly between Quito and Miami and had we planned on making it back to Miami on that day we might not have made it with another day or much difficulty.  How great it is to know that God is always leading and always directing our lives and the things that concern us. The Word of God says that God directs our steps and that His way and His timing is always right. 

My prayer for our church and for you is that we would be open to the timing and leading of God. He may not always work on our schedule, but He is always working on our behalf and on the behalf of the Gospel.  His timing is right and perfect. Some times we get impatient with God and wonder when He will answer or when the time will be correct.  God says that all of our days are in His hand and that the steps of the righteous are order by the Lord. Please pray with me that we would all be open to the Holy Spirit's leading on all the times of our lives.  Lord give us a heart to say that we will trust in God's ways and His Timing.  Next Installment  "Believe I Am"