When we submit, God does the rest.
October 30, 2024 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Howard Williams for Adventist Review
It was an evening in the fall of 1974. My father invited my young wife and I to come over to their house to meet a family who were involved in missionary work in Colombia. I wanted to become a missionary, so the invitation was accepted. Long story short, about a month and a half later we found ourselves in Colombia working as volunteers for the winter.
As per the instructions we received, we didn’t carry much cash with us; instead we had my parents send us a check every couple of months, which we would then cash at the conference office in Bogota. The first check arrived as we were running low on money, so we made the long trip to the capital city, arriving with only a few pesos left. When I had opened the letter with the check in it, I had placed the check in my shirt pocket while I read the letter. The next day when I asked my wife where my shirt was, she said she had washed it in the river, and it was drying on the line. When we presented the washed check to the cashier, he took one look at it and informed us that the bank would not accept it because of the damage to one digit. It looked fine to us, but we could not convince him otherwise.
Full Submission
We exited the building and sat on the steps processing our plight. There we were, young country kids in a city of some 3 million people. We knew no one. We didn’t even have enough money to buy supper that day. As we grappled with the seriousness of our situation, my wife began to cry, and when a well-dressed gentleman passed by, I’m sure my face looked pretty long as well. As he reached the top of the steps he stopped, turned around, and asked, “Are you guys all right?” Out came our story mingled with a few tears. “Don’t worry!” he replied. “Give me about 15 minutes, and I will take you to my house. You can stay there till more money arrives. By the way, I am Henry Niemann, the conference president.”
He took us to his home, treated us like his own children, lent us some money to get around the city, and even invited us to accompany him on some trips to see the countryside.
This experience was a turning point in our young lives. Up till then, God was purely theoretical. Now His watch care over us became real. He had immediately taken care of the single greatest need we had ever experienced. When we returned home, it was only a short time before we became involved in a home Bible study group. On the very first night we learned that the reason we had struggled so much in our walk with God was that we had never fully submitted our lives to His leading. That very night at home on my knees, I did just that.
A few months went by, and I found out from Elder Niemann that he was making plans to start an agricultural boarding academy where poor children could attend and work off their entire tuition. The place he wanted to buy land was nearly solid jungle, and all the land would need to be cleared so that farming could be done. He wondered if I would be interested in helping in such a project, since I came from an equipment operator/logging background. If so, he would look into getting visas for us.
I was thrilled! Not many opportunities come up for loggers to go to the mission field. As I considered the plan, it occurred to me that they would need a good bulldozer to do all that clearing. Our family’s logging business had three bulldozers. I excitedly approached the other partners with a question: Would they consider donating a bulldozer to the conference in Colombia? I proposed, not our newest machine, but the next-newest one. I was shocked when they insisted that if we were going to give God a machine, it had to be our best one. Everyone agreed. I immediately wrote a letter to Elder Niemann with the news.
God’s Plan
Fast-forward a couple weeks. The executive committee met, and one of the agenda items for the day was whether or not to proceed with the agricultural school plan. Not all the members were on board with the idea, and the discussion ran into lunchtime. “Gentlemen,” Elder Niemann said, “let’s table the discussion till after lunch break. Go home, pray over this issue, and after lunch we will take the final vote.”
When Elder Niemann passed through the lobby of the conference office after lunch, the receptionist called out his name with the announcement that he had received a letter from the United States. Reaching his office, he opened my letter and read it. When the executive committee meeting reconvened, he had something to share with them. “Brethren,” he declared, “I have a letter I want to read to you. Afterward we will take our vote.” With that, he read the letter. It was quiet for a few minutes. Then he called for the vote. It was unanimous: Yes.
They could never get visas for my wife and me, but the school was built without us. And as far as the donated bulldozer was concerned, they could never figure out a way to get it there. The point is that God didn’t need our bulldozer or us. All He needed was for me to write a letter to them offering to donate a bulldozer. That was what God chose to use to convince the committee to move ahead with the plan. A plan, I might add, that was His plan.
I have often pondered the extent of the logistics God arranged in order to get that letter where He needed it to be at precisely the right time He needed it to get there.
He had sent a couple from Florida to Arcata, California, to meet a family who knew that my dad had a small portable sawmill a two-hour drive out in the hills; there they met me and my wife and convinced us to go to Colombia with them. God then permitted our check to get damaged, leaving us destitute on the conference office steps in Bogota right on time to meet Elder Niemann. Then after we were back in the United States and learned to submit our lives to Him fully, God impressed us to donate the bulldozer and write that letter to Elder Niemann. He then made sure the letter arrived at lunchtime on the very day of the committee meeting that was deciding the fate of the proposed academy. God has impeccable timing!
Friends, we serve an awesome God! For those who are genuinely submissive to Him, these kinds of experiences become pretty common, but they never lose their “awe” factor!