Timing is Everything
After living and working in Sagada Mountain Province of the Philippines, we were told that the family we were working with was leaving and we had to leave too and relocate to the Manila area. Suspecting this might happen, we had made a trip just a few weeks prior and found a house to rent. Bob arranged for someone with a jeepney to come to move all of our things and take us the twelve hours drive down to live just outside of Manila. We really didn’t want to leave Sagada but the choice was not up to us. The believers we worked with were disappointed and so were we. We assured them that we would come back and visit and teach some more which our family has done regularly over the years.
Just before the big day we were to move, my husband, Bob, woke up one morning and said, “I really think I need to call home today”. So, he got in our Land Cruiser and drove the hour down the mountain to the one phone that was at the provincial capital mayor’s house. He called his friend, Gary, to see what was going on. When Gary answered the phone, he told Bob that just minutes before our brother-in-law, Stan, had come to the door telling him that he needed to get in touch of Bob right away. He needed to let us know that Bob’s mother had gone into the hospital. Before we left for the Philippines, we asked for her approval of our plan to move overseas. She was very willing to give it with one stipulation: if we ever heard that she had gone in the hospital, Bob would come home at once. So, upon hearing that she had gone into the hospital, Bob drove back up to our place in Sagada and told me that he needed to go home immediately. I agreed. He drove down to Manila that day and went right to the airport to get a ticket and fly out. Initially, he was told that it would take three days to get a clearance for an exit visa. But Bob went right in to talk to the head of Immigration. He explained that there was a family emergency, and he needed to fly home at once. She was very gracious and granted him the exit visa that he needed. It was amazing how God worked all that out on his behalf so he could honor his promise to his mother.
Meanwhile, the man with the jeepney came that weekend as prearranged, loaded us up, and we went to Manila. Sharon, Bob, and Daniel, and I, along with all of our belongings loaded in that jeepney, with the driver who none of us even knew. He dropped us off at the house we had rented and we set up there. It was quite amazing how it all worked out and the timing of everything. It pays to respond to those nudgings from God.
A couple of days later, we heard from Bob that, Gary met him at the airport and took him right to the hospital. He said when they walked into the hospital room, his mother was very happy to see him. Gary’s told him later, that he thought Bob missed it when he saw her because she seemed fine. But Bob spent the next couple days and nights with her at the hospital. It ended up the second night he was there that she passed away. Although we lived on the other side of the world, God was gracious to work it out that Bob was the one family member that was with her when she passed. Meanwhile, back in the Philippines, the children and I had our own little memorial service for Grandma. We talked about different memories we had about her, prayed, and sang a couple songs. When I think about this, I still marvel at how God made a way for Bob and the timing was so perfect.
Have you ever had an experience when you knew the timing was in God’s hands and it all worked out?
