Maurice Sinclair once wrote, “Programmes may be predictable; people never are.  For this reason, the unplanned encounters over meals, the friendships cemented and the spontaneous cooperative ventures may well prove the most valuable...”

Sinclair was writing about a church conference in Wheaton, but I felt his words also apply to serving refugees.  Indeed, people are never predictable; but even more so when they’re suffering from post-traumatic stress, don’t know where they will sleep next week, feel they are living in a culture hostile to their presence...

I was trying to meet regularly with an Iranian seeker who is seriously thinking about what it means to follow Jesus.  He was very keen to meet with me and read the Bible.  So I set a weekly time my dairy for when we could meet.  It worked sometimes, most of the time it didn’t… for a number of reasons.  My Iranian friend has no regular schedule.  He is destitute and has unpredictable housing situation.  I soon learned that meeting regularly for a traditional Bible study was totally impractical.   I began to pray that I would recognise and make the most of opportunities when and where they arise.

One occasion recently presented itself.  I had a great conversation with my Iranian friend as I gave him a lift home from St Rollox in our car.  He asked questions about passages from Matthew that he had been reading.  We also were able to speak openly and honestly about what it means to follow Jesus.   I felt that we started to address the crux of the concerns that lay behind his questions.  All of this on a 20 minute journey across town.  I’ve never been so thankful for traffic, as it allowed us more time to talk!

Car conversations have many advantages – they’re confidential and it’s difficult to avoid the subject at hand.  To be honest, trying to answer complicated questions about Jesus’ divinity while driving isn’t easy.  Yet it’s been good to be reminded that God isn’t confined to our schedules and programmes.  This is not to say that God doesn’t work through such things, but the guidance of the Spirit cannot be compartmentalised to convenient and/or scheduled times that suit me.

While the early church had regular meetings for teaching and fellowship (e.g. Acts 2:42), God can also call us to bear witness “on the move.”  For example, Philip jumping into the Ethiopian eunuch’s chariot, discussing prophecy about Jesus and sharing the good news.  That the eunuch eventually “commanded the chariot to stop” (Acts 8:38) suggests that earlier when, “Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:35), this conversation was happening, quite literally, on the move.  Yet for such openings to transpire, it does mean that we must be attentive and obedient to the Spirit’s call to “go over to this chariot and join it” (Acts 8:29). Or, in our day that might be, “Go and get on the bus with him.” Or, “Give that family a lift home.”

 

I used to feel a bit like a taxi driver soon after I got my British driving licence.  Now I view giving lifts as a great opportunity to get to know people better, to deepen relationships, and hear their stories.  Our teammate Andrew has many similar stories of encounters on the bus he takes across the city.  Pray that we will continue to be attentive to the Spirit’s prompting to unplanned encounters, no matter how surprising the location might be.