God's Providential Encounter...

On the way back from Cape Town to Kigali, we had to come through Joburg. The flight from Cape Town to Joburg got delayed and the check-in counter for the connecting flight was closed earlier than scheduled. We tried to find the office of this tiny airline of Rwanda (Rwandair Express) for hours going back and forth between A and B Terminals of the Joburg's huge O.R. Tambo International Airport.... without success. I ended up calling our staff at the bank to make contact with them. Frustrated, we had to sleep one night in Joburg unexpectedly.

The next day, we were arranged to be on another airline's flight (Kenya Airlines). But, the gate agent could not find our names. After making a couple of additional unsuccessful attempts to find Rwandair Express office, we finally figured out that they switched our first names and last names. So the gate agent could not find our names in the system.

Finally relieved, we checked in and were waiting in the gate area for boarding to Nairobi, Kenya to be continuing to travel to Kigali after a few hours of waiting. Tired but we were relieved and grateful that we finally were able to get on the flight to come back to Kigali. Kristin and I were discussing that we should not be annoyed too much by the unexpected circumstances because we do not have any control over them. But we could control over how we respond to such unexpected circumstances. We should not suffer from our own frustration and anxiety when the external circumstances are difficult enough.

That was when I met Rev. Billa Wilson Babu. He is from India and living in India. He was on his way back to India via Nairobi, Kenya after he attended a leadership conference in Joburg. He is a missionary from Bangalore, India to reach out to his fellow Indians in the Chennai area, southern India, who, however, speak different dialects than brother Wilson. He was a Hindu himself and he is now ministering to other Hindus. He is an educated man with a bachelor's degree, two master's degrees and a ThM degree. He is a pastor, a teacher, a husband and a father of three children. He is shepherding a small church, Bible Baptist Church, that has 10 families, but it took him six years to win these 10 families to the Lord. He also has Doulos Ministries through which he serves the sick people and provides education and training for the pastors and leaders of small rural churches in the surrounding areas.

I could sense that he was charged with a strong calling to serve his fellow Indians with the love that our Lord Jesus Christ has demonstrated to us and commanded us to live with. I could clearly feel his passion for God and compassion for his people. I was grateful to the Lord who has led us to meet each other.

So I said, "Brother Wilson, you and I are meeting today because we missed the flight yesterday. I trust it was God's will that you and I are meeting. Let us stay in touch for continuing our fellowship through prayer and support. Let us see what the Lord has in mind for us to do together." On site, we prayed and rejoiced together. It was God's providential encounter. -Jeffrey