February 2009
By Cletus David

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Matthew 7:7-8)

…For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence, he will cover you with his pinions and under his wings you will find refuge (Psalm 91: 3-4a)

In June 1999, I was selected by the UMC Nigeria Conference with four others to attend a Missioner of Hope Training Program in Kitwe, Zambia. We were all excited for such an opportunity to serve.

Soon we started making our travel arrangements and getting our passports, which took some weeks. After having received the passports, we were waiting for the flight tickets which we were told were going to come from the U.S. At last, four days before our departure, the tickets came through DHL! The day we received the tickets, though, we were still in the village and we needed to be in Lagos for the flight. Finally, we decided that we should hire a car that would drive us about 7 hours to Jos, a larger city, so that from there we could take an internal flight to Lagos.

We started the drive at 7 pm on the Thursday before our Sunday flights. Considering the danger of night travels, the four of us came together and prayed, surrendering the journey to God. A husband of one of the women, who was traveling with us a short distance to bid his wife farewell, was with us. He rode with us about 15 kilometers to the junction where he would get out to go back home. As the husband prepared to get out, he said to us, "I want us to pray again. This time, I want your driver to remain in the car right on his seat." (The first time we prayed the driver stayed outside because he was a Muslim. This second time, he remained in the car and we prayed asking God to protect all of us, including the driver and guide our journey.)

Soon after, we starting driving again, it started raining and it rained for the next four hours. As we left the town of Gombe, it stopped raining. We paused and thanked God for leading us safely through the rain and mud all that way.

Little did we know that in just about 45 minutes we would face a much larger problem. As we negotiated a bend in the road, lo and behold, armed robbers had blocked the roads with very big stones and were hiding near the road. They were prepared to surface after their prey had tumbled with their car. Our driver, with some speed, hit the stones. And, as if the whole car were lifted up and over the pile of rocks, our car landed safely on the other side. Our driver steadily accelerated. Then, the robbers who had been asleep a few meters from the stones, appeared with hoes and sticks shouting, "Stop! Stop!" They ran towards us, but never caught up to us. And, we never stopped!

God led us to Jos, a town in Nigeria, safely. The next day we got to Lagos and were able to make it to Kitwe, Zambia unhurt! Praise God! He protected us.

Prayer: Thank you Lord Jesus that you never sleep nor slumber but keep watch over your children day and night.

Thought for the week: When we commit our plans to God He leads the way with great safety.

Prayer focus: Travelers