God's Prep Work: Or How What I Spent All of My Childhood Doing Finally Payed Off

Hindsight is 20/20 right? Then how come after looking back I still can’t figure this one out? See, last evening it was revealed to me that I was being prepared this particular evening since the age of eight. Let me paint you the picture.

A bit of background. Our weeks here on the ship are fairly structured. We work five days a week. We get one day off, and we get one day designated as an “experience day.” Experience days, as of now, consist of training for ministry and a bit of practical application. Well, yesterday was my experience day for the week.

I was designated for a team from the ship to go to Copenhagen to do what was classified as “street evangelism.” For me, this is not comfortable. In fact, there are times where I absolutely despise “street evangelism.” For those of you unfamiliar with the term or the activities associated with the term, it consists of Christians out on the street handing out “literature” to unsuspecting passer-bys. I recognize God’s sovereignty in that He can use anything for the advancement of His kingdom. I just wish He would phase that particular practice out.

This event was no different. We were given “literature” to hand out and I optimistically took four pieces out of a possible much more than four. There was a table set up along the street with coffee to hand out to people as they walked. (Street, in this case, means paved walking area. In fact, there were very little cars in this part of Copenhagen.) I should mentioned that we were given the liberty to do whatever we liked as far as “outreach” goes, but we were encouraged to stick around the table to see if we could strike up any conversations. I chose not to stick around.

I mentioned to my team that I was interested in just walking around the area and praying. Three other were interested as well so two of us went one way and two the other. My partner in prayer and I walked not by five minutes to find what would occupy the rest of our night and for what God was preparing me for the last sixteen years.

There before us, sitting in an open square, were several white tables. Surrounding these tables were a series of flood lights pointing toward the tables. Between these lights and the tables were all kinds of people. People from Copenhagen, people from Spain, people from Italy, and people from the United States. Keeping these people occupied, sitting on the tables, were piles and piles of white Lego bricks.

I’m not going to lie to you friends, I’m not going to fabricate the truth, I was pretty darned excited. Without asking or seeking the reason behind the square converted play pin, I immediately began to build.

A woman standing, building next to me with two children was talking with someone across the table in Danish. Perhaps she was inquiring as to why all the Legos? Her conversation finished and I asked if she spoke English. I then asked why the Legos. She told me and before long we were having a conversation. I was talking with a woman on the street of Copenhagen. The whole point of the exercise that evening, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the medium of Lego.

As you can see, this was clearly a divine appointment. And as you can see I am completely flabbergasted as to how much preparation God puts into His kingdom work. With God’s sovereignty, He can use a tacky Christian track handed out by a very bold Christian person, but He can also use someone’s favorite childhood toy to strike up a conversation between two people in the middle of Copenhagen, Denmark. I hope He uses the later, or even better, both.

A Short Note From The Clay

My apologies to you faithful readers who've had to spend a month reading the archives. I was hoping to post more often, but neither time, nor words have allowed me to accomplish that. Please feel free to chastise me for not posting. It may be a motivating factor.