Unprecedented Favor

That's what I could call our week of ministry in Scotland. We saw God do more things in more amazing ways than I could possibly have predicted. We went, of course, to share about the incredible love of Jesus with the children and adults of Dumbarton, Scotland. What happened, though, was that Jesus showed our team unprecedented favor in patiently teaching us about His love, grace, mercy, and favor as we worked together in His name.

We also received unprecedented favor in the eyes of the school administration, students, and parents at Aitkenbar Primary School. First of all, the entire student body ended up joining us in baseball every day except Wednesday. We had no idea that we would be working with 100s of kid each day! And dozens of new kids stayed after school for the Kinrick Kids bible time. Chris and Ryan Haney said that they've never had this many new kids come at one time. And, they got to meet each of the parents as well.

On the final day, all the children came up to the Overtoun House for a day of baseball. What was originally planned to be a 3 hour afternoon baseball time, was extended to an all day event. We played baseball, shared lunch, sang, and had a great day.

The only unknown element was giving out the Bibles. The principal decided that we couldn't give the Bibles directly to the children, in case some of the parents would be offended. So, she said that we should just make them available to those that wanted one. Our team prayed about it and let God handle the results. So, at the closing time, Chris Haney said that we had Bibles to give out to all the regularly attending Kinrick Kids and asked them to come up and receive them. You should have heard the uproar!! Everyone wanted to know how come they weren't going to get one as well! She said that we had enough for everyone, if they wanted. You would have thought she was giving away money!!! They all mobbed her to get a free Bible. We were grinning from ear to ear.

My most touching memory of that time was a conversation with a little guy named Mark. Right before Chris came up to talk, he asked me "What are all these books?"
"They are Bibles," I replied.
"How much do we pay for them?" he asked.
"Nothing," I said, "they're free."
"Seriously?" he said with astonishment. "Why would you do that?"
"Because we love Jesus and we want everyone to read about Him. This is book is all about Him." I said.
"Hmmm." was his only reply.

Dumbfounded by the love of God. I'm right there with you, Mark. Why does He love me so much? I don't know. But I'm happy to love Him back with my whole life. I pray you do the same.

Oh, and did I mention that we had 7 straight days of sunshine with a refreshingly cool breeze? No one we talked to could remember the last time that Glasgow, Scotland had 7 straight days of sunshine without a hint of rain.

Unprecedented favor. Thank you, God.