Did you ever notice that Jesus never had a strategic planning meeting of the Apostles to decide where he would perform his next miracle, or teach a significant lesson? Jesus was a master of speaking and ministering as he was interrupted. Lives were changed spontaneously. Destinies were altered by “chance encounters”.
- Samaritan woman at the well (John 4)
- Gerasenes demoniac (the man with thousands of demons) (Mark 5)
- Woman healed of blood issue (Luke 8 )
In fact, nearly every ministry story of Jesus happened during interruptions.
For one year I have planned with top Cambodian government officials to have a team of US police and fire officers train a few hundred Cambodian police and fire officers in tactical skills. We also hoped we would have opportunities to share the gospel. Ten days ago Thailand launched a border war against Cambodia and so all the police and military in the country have been called to the border. No officers can be brought back for training at this time since it is a time of war. Tickets are bought, the US police team arrived in Cambodia and there are no Cambodian police in sight. The officials are apologetic, but the team is here. This is a significant interruption indeed!
God, however, had other plans. He interrupted our plans! Each day, we visited schools from elementary to high schools in the border town of Poipet, Cambodia. We were only a few miles from where our original mission recipients were now digging trenches and defensive positions along the Thailand and Cambodia border. The US police team has done something they have never done. They taught police tactics, anti-drug messages, and fire safety to thousands of kids. Not only that, each one of those kids, thousands of them, heard the gospel clearly! God was at work in the interruptions.
God working in our interruptions really brings to life the verse which says,
8 “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.
9 ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
"Hands Up"
Just some of the thousands of kids and teachers who heard about Jesus through the policemen and firemen