Acts 27:1-26

Going to Rome and Zimbabwe

God told Paul he was going to Rome. He didn’t say it was going to be easy.

In the fall of 1984 God told Margaret and I that we were to go to Zimbabwe. There wasn’t an angelic visitation, but the word was very clear nonetheless. We were excited. We put our house on the market and started selling everything we had. We started visiting churches and raising support.

Looking back there were a few bumps in the road.

-On New Years Eve we took our two year old daughter to the hospital with spinal meningitis. She was there for the next ten days and didn’t regain consciousness until the sixth day. God was gracious and gave her a full recovery.

-When we left in May of 1985 we had not raised the money for the move so we used the proceeds from the sale of our house. And we had only raised pledges of support equal to about 68% of what we needed. God was gracious and even though many missionaries only receive about 50% of what is pledged we never had a month when we received less than 150% of what was pledged. By the time we returned there was even enough to repay us for what we had put into the original move.

-When we got to Amsterdam on our way to Zimbabwe Isaac was sick. In fact, he was so sick the airlines wanted to put him in the hospital and wouldn’t let him board the flight. God was gracious and miraculously touched him in the airport so the doctor cleared him to fly.

-When we got to Zimbabwe we discovered that we didn’t actually have a work permit. God was gracious and we were able to stay there three years with valid papers.

-During 1985 we “moved” six times. God was gracious. We always had a place to stay.

In looking back, it could have seemed hard but the truth is that while we were in the middle of it all it really wasn’t that hard. In fact, it was...the only word I can think of is “blessed”. We discovered, as Paul and so many other discovered before us, that when you are where God wants you to be the storm may rage but there is peace in your heart.