A MIRACLE MEETING
And Gehazi said, “My lord, O king, this is the woman and this is her son, whom Elisha restored to life.”
2 Kings 8:5
Dear Family and Friends,
Old Testament miracles still happen today. God’s sovereignty over the lives of men has not changed.
In the above story, Elisha tells his benefactress, a prominent Shunammite woman and her son, to leave their home in northern Israel for seven years due to a coming famine. When she returns, she discovers her home and fields have been taken. So, she goes to appeal to Jehoram, king of Israel. Meanwhile, Jehoram had asked Elisha’s personal attendant Gehazi to relate stories of “all the great things Elisha had done.” At the very momentGehazi was recounting how Elisha had raised the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead, the Shunammite woman and her son show up to appeal to the king. The result: Jehoram appoints a government officer to go with this woman to “restore all that was hers and all the produce of the field from the day that she left the land even until now.”
A simple enough story, but one that shows how God arranges miraculously timed meetings to facilitate His purposes, which in this case was to have compassion on one powerless widow and her son and aid in the restoration of their property.
God has arranged such timely meetings many times. But for me, the last time was on my recent trip to Dimapur, Nagaland, India.
Two days prior to arriving in Dimapur, Rev. Dr. Bonny Resu, my good friend and resident of Nagaland, informed me that in addition to an Indian visa I also need a Protected Lands Permit (PLP) to enter Nagaland. India’s central government had again begun restricting foreigner access into Nagaland in an effort to suppress supposed outsider agitation for a separatist movement. Not needing this permit since the 1990s, I was unprepared and thought I would have to cancel my visit to the Dimapur Tyrannus Hall (DTH). Online, the Indian government requires you to apply a minimum of 30 days in advance if you are outside India and 15 days in advance if within India. Bonny initially advised me not to come, because they would simply deny me entry and make me fly directly back to Guwahati. With Franklin Graham being denied entry to Nagaland three months earlier, Bonny had good reason to tell me not to come. A day later, however, he told me to come, because he thought his assistant pastor might be able to process my PLP for me at the Police Commissioner’s office in Dimapur. So, I sent the assistant pastor a filled-out PLP application and flew to Dimapur, not knowing what would happen. When I arrived into Dimapur, the Nagaland Police stopped me from exiting the airport. I explained my situation and gave them Bonny’s and the assistant pastor’s phone numbers. They showed me a seat outside their office and told me to sit and wait.
I knew the assistant pastor had been at the Police Commissioner’s office working on my PLP for a couple hours prior to my arrival into Dimapur, but he had not yet been able to get it. I waited in an empty airport for another two hours and still no PLP. Outside of only one flight that had come in during those two hours, the airport was completely empty except for the police, a few airport employees and me. But then a heavy-set Naga in traditional dress with a man-bun pulled tight on the top of his head walked through the center of the airport with a small entourage of seven or eight men around him…obviously someone important who must have just arrived on a private jet. Being the only person in the entire airport and sitting all by myself (and the only white person), he notices me and comes with his entourage directly to me. After asking a few questions, he abruptly walks away, entourage in tow, and begins talking to someone on his cell phone. He then comes back and tells me it’s all taken care of. I’ll be let into Nagaland. After he departed through the exit doors, the head police officer comes over to me and tells me that I just met the Minister of Tourism, who had called the Police Commissioner and told him to let me in. Ten minutes later, the police let me enter Nagaland – andwithout an approved PLP!
This was no coincidence. God had arranged this meeting of a government officer to get me into Nagaland. Why? To this day, I am not sure. Was it so that I could be taken directly to a Christian hospital to have my bleeding ear treated by an ENT, who delayed his scheduled surgery to see me? Was it so I could share God’s Word with the DTH guys? Was it for a private conversation I had with a student who had graduated from the DTH and who had come back to meet me? A breakfast meeting with the visionaries and staff of a new Tyrannus Hall in Diphu? Or one or two initiatives God wanted discussed at an informal dinner with the DTH Board of Directors? Or??? I honestly do not know. But I do know that God arranged this very timely meeting between the Minister of Tourism and me so that I could spend these 4 days in Dimapur.
Thankful for God’s sovereignty, your prayers and this incredible adventure of life in His Kingdom here and now,
Steve