Let me set the scene… We had just arrived in El Salvador for debrief. It was adventure day so everyone was up bright and early, ready to pile in several cars to take our crew across the city. Justin (Flocka Sheep’s team leader) drove the car I was in, while Kevin (squad leader) and Jay (squad coach) drove the other car and a van. I hopped into Justin’s car with Jenna, Alayna, and Jamie. We were headed to hike a volcano in Santa Anna, which was about a two hour drive. Jay led the caravan in the van with Kevin and Justin following. After about an hour or so of driving, Justin announces to the car that he has to pee and couldn’t hold it, so he stops the car and runs out to pee, the other car and van in front of us being far out of sight by the time he returns. Starting down the road, we turn the corner and —low and behold!— Kev had stopped to wait for Justin. (Kevin would never leave Justin behind— if you know them you understand, these men are very loyal to each other.) Unfortunately Jay, whose van was leading the way, hadn’t stopped. Our two cars had just so happened to have pulled over right before a fork in the road, so we decided to go right yet come to find out we were supposed to go left.
After about 20-30 minutes of driving and not seeing the van, we realized we were lost. Jenna then took charge in finding the volcano on Maps and we turn around and start heading in the right direction. At this point, we are driving through the mountains of El Salvador so you can imagine all the hills, twists and turns. We start down a hill and to find a bunch of chickens and a turkey on the road, so Justin begins to break but the car isn’t slowing down like it is supposed to (we almost hit one of the chickens!). Justin announced to the car that he didn’t think the breaks were working properly and decided to pull over after another minute of driving. We pull over to the side of the road, and I watched as all six men of N Squad jump out to hover over the car engine. Justin reports that the breaks are hot and seem to not be working right, so we decide to let the car cool off.
After a few minutes, a man pulls up on a motorcycle, after telling him what happened, he tells us he’ll go get the mechanic. After a short time, he came back with the mechanic who just so happened to be a pastor in the town. The pastor begins to tell us about the work he is doing in this community. “Pagan parties” are a common occurrence in his town and he felt the Lord bring him there to help bring revival to the town. There was something about him… This man is so full of the Holy Spirit and the fear of God that as he began to talk, you could feel in your spirit the Fear of the Lord coming off of him. He is leading revival services within his community and is watching the Holy Spirit move through it all. He also informed us that God was protecting us by us pulling over when we did: The hill we were about to take was notorious for people dying on because the breaks of their car can’t handle it and many have gone over the side of the mountain. It was obvious that this was a divine appointment and the Lord’s favor was upon us.
After the pastor told us his story, we prayed over the car for nothing to be wrong with the breaks. After we prayed over the car, he went to look at the breaks and determined that nothing was wrong with them anymore. Again it was obvious that the Lord was with us. It was a miracle right before our eyes.
The Lord showed me a few things through this divine encounter:
- I saw the works of His hand in real time. The Lord showed me how He set up all of these events to take place at such a perfect time to allow us to meet this pastor. We were able to connect him with Adventures in Missions to see if he could receive missionaries. He also invited us to attend a revival service at his church. I’ve been able to look back over my life and see how one event led to the other to show me the Lord but my eyes had never been opened to see how He works in real time.
- It made me question, am I willing to be interruptible? If Justin didn’t have to stop to use the bathroom then we may not have gotten separated from the group and lost. Then we may not have ended up stopped on the side of the road at the perfect time to meet the man who knew the mechanic/pastor. We could have ended up at the bottom of that hill in a ditch because our breaks weren’t working. So many things could have gone completely different if we weren’t willing to be interrupted. We didn’t worry that we weren’t where we were supposed to be or that we were suck on the side of the road. Because we were okay with being interrupted, we were able to meet an amazing pastor who is bringing revival to his community.
- Divine appointments happen when we are least expecting them. It was completely off the path and yet this meeting didn’t surprise God. We still ended up at the volcano and while that was amazing, God’s divine appointment was eye-opening and awe-inspiring.
