The God of Time...and Perfect Timing

Who can understand the mind of God, for truly—TRULY it is amazing! I am discovering, of late, that God is a God not just of time and eternity but also of TIMING. There is just no other explanation for the perfect weaving of circumstances and people that I have been observing lately. Coincidence just is not a broad enough determiner to explain how people ebb and flow so well here…

One example:
At a local orphanage, MIS, that survives on the generosity of volunteers, I have watched so many volunteers come and go, and I keep thinking, how will the kids survive—how will things proceed when this person or that person leaves, yet someone else is always coming just as someone is going. There’ve been Aussies, Americans, Irish, Canadians…God just keeps leading people from all over the world. And how do they discover this small ramshackle little spot? There just isn’t any other really GOOD explanation, other than the Physics of God.

Another example:
Sarah and Dean, or neighbors, leave for Australia--their home--and leave a big void! Then just a couple of weeks later two young Americans are set to arrive. And they do... And just yesterday one of them, Karlee, was just telling me how she got to attend the university she is at...It was a compact made with a friend who decided not to go there after all, leaving Karlee on her own to go; but if she hadn’t attended that particular university this year, she’d never have gotten involved in the church she’s attending, never have found out about Beautiful Gate or Lesotho, never have met Lauren, never have thought about and then decided to come here…

Then the two young men I mentioned in my last post. They arrive almost at the same time as the two gals next door. I could not have chosen such a good combination of personalities. They are age-mates and they all get along so well, their personalities all mesh so well, even with ours, and having each other here really is enriching the lives of both parties, and me too! They are a joy. They've really added a fun dimension to life, too, since the girls come over almost every day to say hi and stand and visit with me or the guys and me in my tiny kitchen, have Chai or Hot Chocolate, play cards, watch movies, visit with the guys and bring laughter or just quiet conversation, or Sesotho language practice, and shared meals... Yes, God is amazing. It's been neat to see how God has brought us all together here.

Just yesterday the girls, Bokang, three of my IB1 students, and I headed up a close-by mountain for a hike—lovely, lovely day for it—while Raps went over to the college to work on his car, to get it going so he could drive it over to our place. Now Raps’ car is ‘special’. It’s his creation out of any possible scrap he could find, and it won him a science fair prize and a place at Machabeng College. Raps is brilliant in his creativity and determination. Anyway, he’s driving the car home yesterday and some guy in a VERY NICE BMW stops and offers to escort him home since the car is not exactly ‘highway-worthy’. This guy is a young Basotho businessman who is pretty passionate and full of energy and enthusiasm to empower Basotho in this country. He was very interested in Raps’ story and the two of them talked for hours yesterday. It’ll be interesting, no doubt, to see if this leads anywhere. If nothing else, I know it was a big encouragement to Raps, just to know that people do admire what he’s done and support him in spirit.

Hmm…one last example…Last week Raphalane came into the house, concerned. He’d just gotten a call from his family, and his sister who’s been accepted at Machabeng for next academic year just found out that she was not accepted for Manpower funding because she’d missed hearing the radio announcement about interviews. Well! She has no electricity in her village, so how was she going to hear? When she phoned to check with them, they told her she’d missed the deadline and they were NOT open to considering her plea. I went to talk to our headmaster and his recommendation was that she write a letter, so I had Raps send her an SMS inviting her to come in for a couple of days so she could sort this out. She and I sat down and composed a pretty darn convincing letter (She’s a good English student, I see ;-) and she took it to the Director of Manpower, who was unmoved!
She came back frustrated and disappointed, but still determined. The headmaster had also advised her to talk to the Ministry of Finance. They, fortunately, were sympathetic. She ended up going back and forth between the two for most of one day last week, but finally was able to get a “yes” from Manpower. So it looks like she’s in! Now…things COULD have just gone smoothly, her being accepted without all these complications, but I’m guessing these complications are part of a bigger plan. How else would I have had the chance to connect for a couple of days with this wonderful little lady! Who knows how God will weave this fabric! I just have a hunch that that thread is still hanging, waiting to be woven back in…

I am learning, over here, as I see how people flow in and out of our lives, that God is the God of PERFECT timing. He is a true orchestrator of the incredible.