“Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?” Psalms 139:7
Most if not all of us have experienced the horror of losing our cell phone at some point and if you haven’t, now is a good time to thank God! A dear friend of mine and member of our church named Christiana had lost her cell phone in the heart of Manhattan, Times Square. She back tracked her steps amidst the mass of humanity and yet nothing. To add insult to injury, she was traveling with an agnostic friend whom she had been sharing the ‘goodness of God’ with. Naturally this woman began to mock, ‘God isn’t much help now is He’. Christiana began to whisper a prayer under her breath that went something like, ‘C’mon Lord….work with me here?!!’ After several minutes, the agnostic friend said, ‘I’ll call your phone’. She calls Christiana’s number and to their surprise, someone answered!! And not just anyone, it was Christiana’s dear friend Nadine! Amongst the 3.9 million people that walk the streets of Manhattan, she was the one who found the lost phone on the side of the road! No God huh??
This story reminded me of the book of Philemon. It’s a small obscure book in the New Testament, only one chapter long. In this book, we learn about a man, Philemon, who was converted to Christ in Ephesus by the Apostle Paul. Philemon would travel back to Colossae and start a church based out of his home. One of his servants, a man named Onesimus (sounds like a Transformer or X-men doesn’t it?) would steal from Philemon and run away….far away! (As in, 1,200 miles away to Rome).
I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to outrun your past, you may have been successful, but you can never, ever, outrun God.
1,200 miles away from his home in Colossae who would he run into? None other than the Apostle Paul who was under house arrest in Rome. What are the odds? Onesimus, whose name means “useful”, would become a follower of Christ, repent and return home to his boss Philemon- now he’d be more than just a servant, he’d be a brother! Onesimus would later become the Bishop, overseeing all of Ephesus. USEFUL… I guess so!
You never know who God may bring across your path, there are no coincidences, simply God ordained collisions. I pray God uses you today.