God saved you for a purpose
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)
Last week, David and I were privileged to deploy to Perry, FL, to assist Samaritan’s Purse (SP) in disaster relief work again – this time, post-Hurricane Idalia. Idalia made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on August 30th near Keaton Beach, FL. While Keaton Beach may have been Ground Zero, the sleepy town of Perry, FL – located roughly 20 miles northwest of Keaton – still took a severe blow from the storm. Downed trees punctured homes and knocked out power across the community, where gas pumps were ripped from the ground and businesses caught fire.
David and I arrived a week after the hurricane hit Perry, so clean-up efforts were already in full swing. With three-hundred and fifty-nine remaining work orders for tarping roofs, debris removal, and tree clean-up services, SP still needed strong arms and servant hearts to help with the mission. Fortunately, that’s just what David and I came prepared to bring. With more service requests coming daily, that original number had grown to over five hundred open work orders by the time we headed home.
Each night after dinner, overnight volunteers spend about fifteen minutes sharing our “God Stories” with one another. This time is rejuvenating as we hear of daily conversions or other significant moments when God “showed up” through the work we’re privileged to perform on His behalf.
For the first two nights of our stay, one of our team leaders, G, spoke of a particular homeowner’s son who weighed heavily on his heart. Robby, he’d learned, had a troubled past, which included heavy drug use that caused him to lose most of his teeth and gained him a criminal record. Robby also told G that he was a former Wiccan. Wicca is a pagan religion whose members meet in Covens to deify a mother goddess or horned god. Wicca rituals often “invoke a deity to enter and possess a coven member, often termed ‘drawing down the moon.'”
Having woken from a deep sleep at 3:00 am the morning after he’d met Robby, G felt compelled to pray for another opportunity to witness to this needy soul. After sharing his first encounter during our God Stories time with our entire volunteer workforce of about eighty workers, we all prayed for Robby before retiring for the evening.
The next night, G shared the news that Robby appeared from the woods that afternoon, just as his team was preparing to leave after working at Robby’s home. As he’d prayed to do, G shared the Gospel of Christ with Robby, who’d told G that he “didn’t know he could come back.” G told Robby that God had been waiting for him since the day he was “woven together in his mother’s womb.” (Psalm 139:13)
After hearing this news, Robby pledged his life to Christ – later telling G that it “felt like a weight had been lifted” from his body. We all cheered and celebrated upon learning of this new, precious addition to our heavenly family.
The next day, unbeknownst to me, I experienced my own encounter with Robby – never realizing who he was until late in our conversation.
After a morning spent tarping and clearing another homeowner’s property of downed branches, our team moved to our next assignment – securing a large SP tarp to a damaged mobile home’s roof. While several of our team members had already ventured inside to view the damaged ceilings, I only did so when the owner’s son escorted a fellow team member to view his “lucky mattress.” It never occurred to me that my tour guide was the same Robby we had all prayed for.
After showing us his mattress – newly housed in the living room – Robby walked us back to his empty bedroom, showing us the open roof where a massive tree had fallen on his house during the storm. More phenomenal than seeing the ceiling split open and smashed inward, I was awestruck by the sight of the roof’s crossbeams pushed down and splintered apart– stopping just above where Robby was sleeping. While the beams themselves were not massive, between the two broken boards stood a footlong piece of lumber that had broken free to form a wooden dagger – dangling precariously above the precise location where Robby’s head and chest were lying on his bed.
“That’s where you were sleeping?” I asked Robby, incredulously.
“Yes. When the tree hit, I barrel-rolled out of my bed and ran out of the room screaming,” exclaimed Robby.
“That wood could’ve easily punctured your head or heart,” I commented. “But God protected you. You are here for a reason.”
After agreeing, Robby escorted me outside and behind his mobile home to see the tree stump G and his team had carved for him with a chainsaw. In the center of the wood sat a carved image of three crosses on a hill – a simple reminder of the Gospel story.
“That’s beautiful,” I said before asking Robby if I could take his picture beside the carving. He agreed, and we continued our walk around his parents’ property.
Struck by the four-and-a-half-foot-tall tree roots that had been wholly unearthed in the storm, I advised Robby that he now has a tangible reminder of how mighty God is.
“Anyone that thinks that God isn’t real or that He’s not all-powerful has never seen the damage His hand can invoke during a storm,” I said. “Just think how well rooted this tree was, and yet God’s hand pulled it up as if it was nothing. So many people deny God and yet He, alone, is in charge of everything – not us.”
Robby agreed, saying, “I know. You’re right.”
After returning to the front yard, Robby and I moved to the shade, where Robby squatted down, and I knelt to talk more.
I asked Robby if he’d met with any chaplains this week. He confirmed that he had while explaining that he’d also received a signed SP Bible from the team that cleared his trees the day before.
“I even read some of it last night,” said Robby.
“That’s great!” I exclaimed. “The Bible is God’s living Word. A passage you read today might mean something different to you tomorrow. You need to read that Bible every day to stay close to God. More than a sermon, God’s Word will guide you in how you should live.”
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life,” Robby confessed. “I’ve been a Wiccan and have a criminal record, but I feel lighter after talking to everyone this week.”
Only after his confession did I realize I was talking to the same Robby that our teams had been praying for the past two nights. I said a silent prayer at that moment, asking my Heavenly Father to give me the right words to say to this precious soul.
“We’re all sinners, Robby,” I told him. “Including me. God gave us all free will. We each have to decide what decisions we’re going to make – good or bad. Whatever choices you’ve made in the past, God has forgiven you and spared you for a reason.”
Robby then explained that he had two young children, ages five and one, living with their mother in Tampa. He further commented about how spoiled they are.
“That’s my heart, right there,” Robby said, “When I heard that the storm was coming to Tampa, I prayed that it would come here instead.”
“Well, it sure did!” I exclaimed. “God used this storm for His purpose. Never forget that God saved you.”
“I know it,” Robby agreed.
“I don’t know anything about your father,” I explained, “but your Heavenly Father loves you more than anything. He loved you before you were born – even before you were in your mother’s womb. He’s been waiting for you all this time. When you look at those crosses on that tree stump, I hope you’ll always remember that Jesus loves you so much that He would have died to save you – even if you were the only person on earth. That’s how important you are to Him.”
“Some people think that God is like some kind of grandfather,” I continued, “and that being a Christian will make everything alright. He’s not and it doesn’t. God is love, yes, but He doesn’t spoil us. He lets us make our own choices. Sometimes, we pay a heavy price for our mistakes.”
“Still, God’s love is all around us,” I said. “He could have made the world black and white, but He didn’t. Instead, we have light and color and beauty wherever we look. I call such things love gifts from God.”
“Oh, I know,” Robby agreed. “I was watching that heat lighting last night and it was beautiful. I used to look at such things and only see darkness and evil. Now, I’m starting to see things in a whole new way.”
“That’s God’s love inside you,” I said. “You just have to open your heart to see it.”
Noticing the pentagram on the inside of Robby’s right wrist, I continued.
“The devil has been fighting for you your whole life,” I stated. “But so has God. He was right beside you in that storm.”
“God saved you for a reason,” I repeated. Cupping my hand in demonstration, I continued. “When that tree fell, He placed His mighty hand between you and those wooden beams. It was at that moment that God said, ‘No further.’ He allowed everything to happen even while He was still protecting you.”
“We don’t know what the purpose of all this is, but even if it’s only so you can be a Christian father in your children’s lives, that’s another miracle. Your kids need you. They need a Christian dad to lead them the way they should go.”
Robby explained that after talking with G and the chaplains the day before, he received a call for a temporary job, which meant a lot to him. Serving as a millwright in a paper mill during a factory shutdown, Robby would be paid as a subcontractor to go into the boilers and other equipment to perform repairs.
“That’s a blessing,” he articulated. “I need to work. I don’t have enough money in my wallet to make cents.” We both laughed at Robby’s pun as he and I got up and moved over to the rest of our team, who were packing our truck for departure.
“We’ll be praying for you, Robby,” I promised. “We’re all praying for you.”
“Thank you,” he said. “That’s dangerous work I’ll be doing during the shutdown.”
“God is with you,” I confirmed. “We’ll all keep praying.”
After praying with Robby and his family, his mother retrieved the SP Bible given to him the day before. I signed it, as did another of our team members, before we hugged everyone and said our goodbyes. We invited Robby and his family to join us for dinner at the church, but he declined, saying he needed to pack for his trip to GA.
“That’s a standing invitation,” I said. “You’re welcome to visit the church for dinner anytime you can make it. We’d all love to have you there.”
“Thank you,” was Robby’s sole reply. “Everyone who’s come here to help has been great!”
And so, we left – feeling blessed to have heeded our Creator’s call to help. There’s always more kingdom work to be done, and David and I stand ready to perform whatever we’re asked to do. Even though this work was unexpectedly different than what we did in Ft. Myers, I feel privileged to have interacted with Robby and the other homeowners we served.
After inquiring with our volunteer coordinator, I learned that SP gives the contact information of all those we’ve assisted to our base camp church. Their follow-up is crucial – especially to newly saved Christians like Robby. While our actions help restore the damaged property of natural disaster victims, our servants’ hearts demonstrate the love of Christ, even as our chaplains’ words guide these homeowners into the family of God. Nothing is more important than making an eternal difference to wounded souls.
As one of our SP leaders in Ft. Myers said last fall, they’ll use anything – including a chainsaw – to share the love of Christ with the world. We are all covered by God’s grace. How can we not tell others how amazing that is?
