Argentina Mission Report - Scott Tharp

Scripture: Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Insights: The final testimony concerning our Mission Trip comes from me.  Four of us were originally scheduled to leave Argentina on Saturday, but on Friday evening we received notification that the flight was cancelled.  You can only imagine how we felt.  The Mayo’s had not been away from their two year old daughter for that kind of length of time before.  The Tharp’s had to get back to work.  Now, however, they were going to be delayed a full day and would not fly out until Sunday evening.  Obviously, our emotions were running hot.  Now jump ahead to our flight from Dallas, TX to Montgomery, AL. on Monday morning.  Because of the cancelled flight Kristy and I were no longer scheduled to sit next to each other.  The gentleman sitting next to Kristy offered to switch places with me and she told him it was a short flight and that I was already seated and not to worry about it.  Ninety-eight percent of the time Kristy would have willingly accepted the man’s offer, but not this day.  As the plane was heading toward the runway, I asked the lady next to me if she was returning home or going for a visit. Immediately she began crying and I was saying to myself, “What did I say?”  As we continued to talk I learned her mother had passed away and she had been traveling back to Alabama for the funeral.  She had missed her connecting flight the night before in Dallas by twelve minutes.  She told me she grew up attending church, but that she was just not certain about eternity.  I told her the Bible tells us, “I have written these things so that you may know you have eternal life (1 John 5:13).”  I asked if she would like me to tell her how she could know for certain and she responded with, “Oh, please do.”  For the next two hours we got to talk about Jesus’ love and mercy.  Only God could have known this woman was going to miss her flight and be in such distress.   Only God could have known she needed to talk with someone like me; and therefore, cancelled my original flight and separated me from my wife.  God loves us all that much!

Questions:

1. How well do you handle God’s alteration of your plans?
2. Are you willing to look for God’s best in the midst of the alteration?

Prayer: Lord, I am grateful You know what is best.  Help my heart to accept Your will and obey Your commands.  Amen.