Opportunities

"The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity." Leonard Ravenhill

This is a quote that I heard often when I was in Bible college and have thought about many times since. Last year I had an opportunity come up that has made me ponder this even more. You see many times things will come up and we want to think about them, get others opinions about it, weigh other options, etc. I know that we can't just jump into everything willy nilly but some things require quick decisions. For instance, last year I was sitting in the airport in Port au Prince when an announcement came that the flight had been overbooked and they needed somebody to give up their seat. The compensation for taking a later flight was a meal voucher and a $500 voucher toward another airline ticket. There were times before then I had thought about what I would do if something like that happened and in my mind I always saw myself snatching up the vouchers. I sat there pondering my options, I pulled out my ticket for my connecting flight in the states and did the timeline in my mind, there would still be plenty of time for me to catch my connection. Being in Haiti I didn't rush up to the counter because I didn't think there would be a mad dash for people to accept this offer. I hate to admit it but I even thought that they might sweeten the deal. I was wrong! There was a group there that had been working with a church that week and two of the ladies jumped on it. Like me they had a long layover once they got in the states. I felt like kicking myself and Leonard Ravenhill's saying came to mind.

A couple of months later this whole scene flashed back in my mind. I was going on another trip to Haiti and so I was raising funds again. It was getting close to the deadline and I had everything paid for EXCEPT the airline ticket. Now I was really kicking myself, but there was no way to go back and get the voucher so all I could do was pray.

A very precious lady in our church came up to me three weeks before the trip and asked me if I had all the funds I needed. I told her that I was still a little short but I had prayed and it was okay because I knew that God would provide. She wanted to know exactly how short. When I told her that I still needed $600 for my airline ticket she looked a little shocked. The next week our church took up an offering for the trip and it was exactly what I needed for the ticket. I praise God for providing but I also learned a valuable lesson, if He gives me another opportunity to get airline vouchers I won't hesitate.