Thursday, September 8, 2011

The Story of Hans...

Thought I'd share a neat little God-story from a week ago at the airport. (By the way, we've arrived safe and sound in Germany and are loving it so far!)

In an effort to find the cheapest way to move our stuff overseas, we divided up our luggage between us, some friends who are also visiting Germany right now, and my parents who will be coming to visit in two weeks. It was much cheaper for each person to have one additional bag than for us to bring 8 or 10. But as we were finishing packing on the day we were leaving, we realized we had too much stuff and needed an extra bag. We debated about whether we really needed it or not, since it would be expensive to bring...and finally we decided we'd just go for it.

On our way out the door, Mogi remembered that he needed to call a couple that had been wanting to get together with us but it just never worked out so far for us to meet. So he phoned, thanking them for their invitation and saying sorry that it won't be possible since we were just on our way out. The wife commented that her husband was also just leaving, bringing a friend of theirs to the airport. Interested, Mogi asked, "Oh, where is your friend flying to?" The answer was Frankfurt. "Really? What time?" 7:20pm that evening. "No way! What airline?" Condor. Wow! The exact flight we would also be taking in 6 hours. He asked if their friend would be willing to take an additional piece of luggage...so the wife ran out to catch them, and the answer was yes. God had provided!

So we set up a time and place to meet this man at the airport. All we knew was that his name was Hans. When we arrived, we couldn't find him anywhere though. We waited for awhile and even asked a few strangers if their name was "Hans," but to no avail. We joined the check-in line, always looking around for someone who might be looking for us. Finally, it was our turn to go up to the counter, and we decided he must have already checked in, so we would just have to pay for our additional luggage. The computer was acting up at that station, so we had to move to a different one. At that one the lady had to call someone else to help get the program running there too. As we were waiting, and older man came up to the counter beside us, trying to communicate with the check-in lady but not knowing English. Mogi understood that he had a question about his seat or something, and offered to translate. So he helped back and forth to get the problem resolved, and at one point he looked down at the man's passport and saw "Hans..." Suddenly they were talking back and forth, "Are you the Hans I'm supposed to meet?" "Yes, I couldn't find you!" And on it went, then Mogi threw one of our suitcases onto his cart and it got checked in right away.

Right at the last minute, God has provided! We were kind of stunned that after waiting for an hour and not finding each other, then having to move because of technical problems, God brought him right to us. Mogi said he was reminded of the principle that "it is a blessing to be a blessing." If he hadn't offered to help translate, we never would have known it was Hans.

Isn't God good? He cares about even the small things in our lives, such as saving money when moving. I read a cool verse yesterday: "Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime." Basically, ask the Lord for what we need!  Zechariah 10:1 - "Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime; it is the Lord who makes the storm clouds. He gives showers of rain to men, and plants of the field to everyone."

God knows what you need in this season of your life, and he is ready to "satisfy your desires with good things" (Psalm 103:5). Do not worry about your life, we read in Matthew 6; your Heavenly Father knows what you need! And he cares about the details.

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