Running with God

From the start of my ministry, I preach sermons in my mind over and over. I always felt that eye contact with my congregation was more important than reading my notes. 

It is painful when you come close to the Sunday sermon and you have NOTHING that seems from God. This week was like that ….. then suddenly God spoke and revealed my text for today. It does not follow the lectionary series which is a revolving preaching plan from the gospels, old testament and the psalms changing from year to year. But suddenly late Saturday night, like a bolt of lightening, scripture came to my mind. 

When I started my college freshman year I took a special Bible to Olivet Nazarene University, a Liberal Arts University an hour out of Chicago. A precious friend, Loella Hobson, who worked for my pastor grandfather gave me that bible. I spoke of her in an earlier sermon and how she passed away at  my parents home in 1969. 

 She never married but “adopted” my mother as her child. My mother was the the oldest of eight children. Miss Hobson taught Greek and Hebrew in Bible Schools before working for my grandfather. After he died, “Hobby,” as she was called, went back to university and got her degree in elementary education.

Many times in the summer she came from Troy, Michigan to stay with us. She was a treasure and when I started my journey towards missionary service she was a wonderful supporter in so many ways. 

In my new Bible,  Hobby had underlined  the following verses and they became my motto for many years.  Last night those same verses hit me for my sermon today, so I present them to you. 

From the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 7-9:

     7 “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

I cannot tell you how many times I read those words across the years because no one is given a stress and worry free journey with Christ. We will be troubled, tempted, defeated or victorious at times. 

My first ever ministry assignment, long before going to Brazil, was a summer mission tour in Panama, Central America in 1971. Later while in Seminary, I became the children’s minister in Kansas City, MO…….. and on and on. God always pointed the way! 

During my first pastorate I took seriously ill with Crohn’s disease. We were told, “You will NEVER be appointed for Missionary service!” But God was greater and I was completely healed.  

When we were accepted and assigned to Nigeria, Africa rather than Brazil, God spoke saying “Accept the assignment,” even though the mission board knew we had a definite call to Brazil South America. We got prepared for Africa and a short time before leaving, everything was put on hold. Two months later in 1979 we were reassigned to BRAZIL! 

I reread those scriptures when trying to learn Portuguese.  We read the Joshua account when our daughter was born eight months after arriving in Brazil.   

Our son attended a Montessori school in Curitiba when we first arrived in Brazil. I repeated the scriptures often when I dropped him off at age five where he was taught by Catholic nuns. 

I read them again when we moved to Brasilia, Distrito Federal and encountered a vivacious group of university students who roared with laughter when I really messed up my new language skills. They loved us and we loved them back. 

Then on to the tropics to live. Shirley had appendicitis shortly after arriving in Recife. I got her out of bed as she agonized in pain and raced her to a doctor in the early evening. Praise the Lord, he was still at his office. After her exam, watching her walk across the floor, he announced, “You have appendicitis. I have a friend doing surgery as we speak. You follow me to the hospital. We then chased behind his Volkswagen Bug to hospital where she had emergency surgery late that night. In my mind those powerful scriptures strengthened me. 

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you WHEREVER YOU GO!” 

When struggling, we still smiled. There was so much to learn. I more than once needed to visit members of our churches and they sometimes lived in violent slums. Brazilians said, “Don’t ever go in there, we don’t even do that. You may not survive. The favelas are controlled by gangs and Drug Lords, but God clearly said “They need you, GO!” So I put on my jeans and started back into miserable, horrible gang controlled favelas (slums). I prayed, wrapped wounds and took medication and food. The next day rather than being harmed there was often a line of people waiting outside the door crying, “Doctor, please help me!” 

 One Sunday night in Salvador, Bahia Brazil I was coming home from a new church start in an impoverished area. As I rode the slow moving bus across town, we stopped in front of a large football/soccer stadium. Salvador is called Black Brazil because slaves were taken out of Africa from 1501-1866 and Salvador,Bahia was a major slave auction. The Pelourinho is where the slaves were chained, whipped and sold. As you walk those streets, it seems like you can hear the Africans crying out in pain as blood dripped from the open lashes on their back.  With all of this cruel history Salvador is a unique and intriguing city. Salvador claimed my heart while we were living in Recife and I would fly into Bahia to work for several days on church planting. 

One late Sunday night, after church, I climbed on the bus that would take me downtown where I would transfer. On the way, we stopped in front of Salvador’s largest soccer stadium, Itaipava Arena Fonte Nova. A Rock Concert had ended in the stadium when suddenly a bolt of lightning split the nighttime sky and a gushing tropical downfall began. Young people rushed the busses, overfilling them, our nearly empty bus was suddenly over-packed with non paying riders. 

I experienced something new, a stampede to the busses. A large black man, riding in front of me, warned me to get down low. I bent forward while teens and young adults kept pouring through the doors. People kept climbing on top the passengers. I gasped for air as more and more dripping wet people filled the bus. 

They laid and sat on top of each other, filling the bus to the ceiling. The asiles were packed full, as often happens. My face was bent downward to the floor. More people hung on the windows and outside the doors. There were people riding on top of the bus. We could hear their feet as they stamped back and forth. 

Some were intoxicated and others high on drugs. They literally started shaking the bus back and forth until I was sure it would topple. They were yelling for the driver to “GO, start DRIVING!” 

The chants continued as sweat, and beer poured over us from the layers of people. 

“DO NOT BE AFRAID” calmly filled my mind “For the Lord your God will be with you WHEREVER YOU GO!”

Bahia is an old city with steep cobblestone streets. As the bus wobbled back and forth it seemed to grunt and groan up the steep inclines. I tried to take deep breaths as I was being forced closer and closer to the dirty floor. I wondered if I was going to trampled. Looking up I saw the face of the very large, muscular black man who boarded the bus outside of my church in the neighborhood of Pernambues. Strangely he said, “Pastor, we have to get off this bus because the driver is not stopping. He is driving to the police station where everyone will be arrested.” He spoke quietly and said, “In a minute I am going to loudly scream. When I do, you must do the same thing. I waited, boldly unafraid, and then we both screamed and used all of our force to stand up throwing people off us. 

Fortunately we were close to the back door. The bus started to move from the stop light when my friend ordered “Now you pry fingers off of that side of the door and I will do the same on this side. 

Young men were hanging on the bus door and when they saw us releasing their grip they yelled “No… Deus me livre (God forbid) please NO!” Threats and colorful language followed with threats that they would kill us. We continued prying their fingers lose and watched them fall into the street. Soon we stood in the open door-way. We waited a while to get away from the fallen men! The bus turned a corner as it headed to the police station and as it slowed for the turn, my friend yelled “JUMP.” We threw ourselves off the moving bus. He grabbed me and kept me from falling. We both laughed in the muggy night air. 

By now, the stars were shinning brightly. We caught our breath and I said “Obrigado, meu irmão (thank you, my brother). Then I asked, “How did you know I was a pastor?” He smiled and replied, “I saw you put your Bible in your bag when entered the bus. I have seen you at the church before and also riding this bus. You have to be a pastor or missionary. Most white, foreigners aren’t in that part of town unless God put them there.” He announced that he was a Christian too. Having no idea where I was, I asked how to get back to Barra, the neighborhood where my hotel was located. He told me to take the upper road, make a turn and keep walking and follow the signs. There were no cell phones, no Waze to give me the best route. I, for the first time, felt confused and weary. The rush of adrenalin dropped and I was totally drained. We shared a traditional Brazilian hug and said goodbye. It was 1:00 a.m. and I started walking across the city of 2,600,000 people. There were no busses or taxis to catch. I was winded but not afraid. I believe God sent me a black angel that night. When he walked away from me he just seemed to vanish in the darkness. I now walked steadily alone listening to the clump, clump of my feet on the cobblestones. For the next two hours I walked and  arrived at the hotel at 3:00 a.m. I fell asleep on my bed totally dressed and exhausted. The next day the newspapers were filled with reports of the many bus hijackings after the Rock Concert. Photos showed hundreds in handcuffs or crammed into small jail cells. I smiled as I thought of God’s care and my Black Angel. After that experience, I always looked for my protector in Pernambues or on the bus. I never saw him again. 

Oh yes, our five year old son who we took to Brazil and he started learning Portuguese in a Montessori school, is now working on his doctorate and the principal of a Montessori school in Lakeland, Florida. Our daughter is a mother of four and works at North Florida Hospital with the Alachua County program for new mothers. 

Shortly after I retired in 2016 God spoke again. I thought, Oh no, God! Then later in 2017 a man by the name of Dr. Ron Marks called me and said, “Carl, we need someone to fill in for us at Covenant,  can you help?” 

That which God spoke to me about in October of 2016 came to fruition!  

What a joy to recognize that living in the center of God’s perfect will is the most important experience there ever could be! You may live in world cities like Abidjan, Pisa, Sochi, or in Micanopy. If we allow God to guide us we will be in a sense of peace, wonder and awe.

Across these many years I had to stay quiet before God and yield my total being over and over to be assured that I was following God’s will and not mine. To experience the greatest thrill of God is to be ready, broken and filled with the Holy Spirit.  It is as if we are running in a marathon and poised in the start positioned to run for an exciting life in Christ. No matter our age ……  We MUST keep going and seek out God’s perfect will. Do Not Be Afraid! Not NOW, NOT EVER….

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

God bless you all, 

Pastor Carl

Ron Marks is now going to pray, 

“Dear Heavenly Father:

What a great and gracious God you are!  You are with us always, from the time we wake up each day until the time we close our eyes at night, and looking over us even as we sleep.  You know everything about us, yet you still choose to love us and save us in spite of our many shortcomings.  Your prophet Joshua was a believer and did great things for you during his life but he, like us, had shortcomings. We witnessed them in Your Word. He complained saying, “Oh, Sovereign LORD, why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us?’” But because of his faith he still followed as you led him in difficult times but with great peace and power. May we also have this peace, power and comfort like Joshua as we continue our walk with You. May we continue to grow in You all the days of our lives and turn from the sin and evil constantly surrounding and seeking us.  May our hearts continue to delight and trust in You now and forever.  Amen”