What was I thinking?

"If you create enough confusion you'll get in!" So I volunteered. I was a member of a 16 woman mission trip and we had a dilemma.   Our leader's visa didn't have the appropriate stamp to enter the next country.  The issue was discovered too late to resolve before we left for the tour. 

I approached the desk with a big smile on my face and 16 passports and visas in hand.  I politely handed him the stack and started to explain we were a group.  He shook his head and signaled we would have to go through one at a time.  I stepped back and waited.  He opened the first passport and mispronounced my name.  So I eagerly popped back to his window.

"Where are you coming from?"  My response was "Nairobi" - it was the latest plane change.  He shook his head and repeated the question.  "Oh before that?  We were in Frankfurt."  Again he shook his head and repeated the same question. "Oh before that?  Stockholm."

Then he realized he was asking the wrong question.  "Why are you coming?"  I launched into our story. "Oh, we're a group of women coming to visit the women in the Baptist churches and..."  He cut me off.  And waved me on.  He haltingly called the name on the next passport and then considered his  struggle with his limited English and my obvious lack of French.  He looked at me and handed me the stack of documents and waved us in. It worked!  We all were in!

I thought of my surprising bravery last week during Bible study when the question was asked, "When have you done something in the power of the Holy Spirit?"

The disciples faced a dilemma in Mark 6:35-44 so Jesus showed them how the power of the Spirit solved problems.

The disciples had been off on a ministry trip and had returned tired and hungry.  Jesus tried to take them across the lake for some rest but the large crowds followed them.  He had compassion on them and taught them until it was late in the day.

The disciples came to Him and reminded Him that they were in a remote place late in the day.  They suggested He dismiss the  people to go to the surrounding villages and get something to eat.

Jesus said "You give them something to eat." They explained the expense of providing that much bread and asked if they really should spend that much. So He showed them.

Jesus asked how many loaves of bread they had?  They did an inventory and found 5  loaves and 2 fish.  Then He directed the people to sit in groups of 50 and 100 on the green grass.

Jesus took the bread and fish, looked to heaven, gave thanks and broke the loaves.  He gave it to the disciples to distribute among the people.  All 5000 men ate and were satisfied.  There were 12 baskets full of leftovers.

I look back to my experience over thirty years ago and ask "What was I thinking?"  For some reason I was willing to take on this task.  I was one of the youngest members of the group. I'm shy, non-confrontational and I'm not always a quick thinker.   But that one day I was emboldened with the idea that I could do it.

I was not the one who got  us in that day.  The Spirit was the real problem solver.  We were on a mission.  We thought we were on a trip to learn about other Christians but we learned so much more about the circumstances of the believers, the obstacles of politics and life, of how God loves and moves among other people.  God was going to change my life and thinking on this trip and the missing stamp on the leader's visa was not going to prevent it.

The disciples surveyed the situation and listed the obstacles.  How like our world today when money or the lack of it tops the list of obstacles to our appointed mission?

Jesus gave the disciples a simple example to follow in the future: gather information and look to heaven.  He gave thanks for the miracle before it was apparent.  The disciples obeyed His instruction and started to distribute the provisions that they logically thought to be inadequate.

When faced with an obstacle, gather information, look to Heaven, obey the Spirit and get ready to be amazed and abundantly blessed!