Sound of the Trump and Chariot of Fire

Matthew 28:19-20: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations..."


I was really struggling today with figuring out how I could share the gospel placed smack-dab in a place I've never before been. Serving for two years in Jamaica as a full-time missionary had taught me how I could casually introduce the Gospel in any and all circumstances - at least, that's what I thought before we went to the Verizon store yesterday.
The guy who was helping us get me my very first post-mission phone, Tim, was just absolutely stellar at his job. He was kind, knowledgeable, and didn't push us to buy anything we really didn't want. His performance was so solid, I'm still tempted to seek out a way to positively review that particular store. I was so grateful that Tim turned what might have been a nightmare into a rather enjoyable experience, I wanted to express my thanks by sharing, with him, what has brought me so much happiness. I tried every trick in the book I could think of to guide the conversation to gospel-related topics, but, nope. Tim was fixed in his determination, and every time the conversation got just a little off topic, he would gently nudge it back. It seems pretty obvious to me that I'm going to need to study on how to be a regular person and be a missionary. I'm too used to leaving the regular person out of it.

Ironically enough, despite the wonderful customer service, about thirty minutes after I'd brought the new phone into the house, it abruptly died on me, completely failing to respond to anything I mashed into it. I'm happy to report that the situation itself didn't really bother me all that much. Getting frustrated would solve nothing, so I simply didn't. Once upon a time, if a new phone died on me right out of the box, I would have been aggravated in the extreme. I would have immediately indulged in much ranting and raving and throwing inanimate and/or animate objects in just about every direction. It's just one of those changes of which I'm proud.
As it was, Dad wanted us to boogey back to the store post-haste to figure out what was going on, so we hopped back in the van and rocketed off. Thanks to that car ride, I honestly think the phone's 'death' was a blessing from God. The time we had in the car, just the two of us, was a great opportunity to really talk about life and our feelings and our goals for the future, both individually and within the familial unit. The representative at the store showed us how to do a hard reset on the phone, which immediately solved the problem, but the half-hour round trip was completely worth it, providing a wholly memorable experience I won't be quick to forget. I think the most important lesson I learned from all that was that, more often, I need to ask myself, "Why is God allowing this bad thing to happen to me?" and then seek for the blessings within the storm.