In the Gospel of Mark, in chapter nine, the father of a demon-possessed boy cries out to Jesus. He is at a loss; doubt fills his very bones and he fears for his child. He has seen the disciples fail to cast out the spirit, only minutes before, and now he's reached the point where nothing can be done.
He has doubts.
Yet, when Jesus tells him that everything is possible for those who believe, he shouts those very words: I believe! Help my unbelief!
If we allowed ourselves a little more freedom to be like that father in Scripture, we might experience more than we could ever imagine. Yes, he had doubts, but he didn't let those doubts stop him from crying out, in faith, to Jesus.
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Caleb just got back a couple days ago from a short-term mission trip to Romania with a group of ICSV high schoolers. It was a fantastic time of serving others and building deeper relationships within the group. God encouraged people, convicted others, fulfilled prayers, and brought people closer to him. Caleb and the other staff leaders had opportunities to share the love of Christ and the good news with students who had rarely heard it before, or understood it. It was a Spirit-filled time and lots of good stories could be shared.
However, there is one story that rises above the rest; it's the kind of story that is meant to be shared, over and over, because God gets all the glory.
On the last night of the trip, Caleb was able to listen to several students share about some intimate and important matters in their lives. One student in particular talked about doubt and his desire to control his circumstances. It's incredible how God invests in our humanness and steers our conversations.
The very next morning, the team said goodbye to the Romanians and the missionaries there, and took off for Vienna. It was a typical early morning drive. Uneventful.
That is, until the caravan reached the Romanian / Hungarian border. Upon crossing over into "no man's land," the trip was halted. Long story short, the student that Caleb had connected with the night before was detained for the next nine hours, in between Romania and Hungary.
At first, the team felt in control. As a staff, we considered our options and started making calls. We encouraged the students to pray and we prayed ourselves. Everything looked like it would work itself out in a couple of hours. It was when five hours turned into six, and six into eight, that we were really reaching our limit.
The student was lonely and restless. The staff was worried and uncertain. More than a dozen other students were wandering the Hungarian border, waiting for their friend who was stuck on the other side. Already, nobody was getting back until 11:30 PM. So, we decided we needed to split up the group.
And we decided we needed to pray . . . again.
We separated the students and packed as many as we could into two of the vans. A third was going to stay behind with Caleb and other staff members in order to wait for the student. One of the leaders left the waiting room to get the ball rolling . . . and found that a van had died. No battery juice. No energy.
Lots of doubt.
And still, we prayed. Now here's where it gets nuts.
This whole time, not a single guard in the office spoke English or German. No communication was happening and we couldn't understand the details of the situation. Finally, a guard showed up, out of nowhere, who spoke English!
He told our student that his only option was to go back into Romania and catch the next flight to Austria.
What?
We couldn't believe it; we explained that this, our "only option," wasn't even an option because the Romanians wouldn't let him back in! He was stuck in between the borders. The van with the dead battery was stuck in Hungary. We were stuck in doubt. What in the world was going on? Something that we expected God to fix quickly and efficiently had become a serious problem. We couldn't let a student fly alone into Vienna. More than that, this was the student who had doubts about the gospel. Why wouldn't God just show up and dispel all mystery?
"We believe God . . . help our unbelief."
And that's exactly what happened. At the very worst moment, hours and hours after we had lost all sense of control, God stepped in.
The same guard, the one who spoke English and gave us the ultimatum of our "only option" came back out and smiled.
"I have friends. I talked with my friends. You are free to go." That's it. You are free to go.
The student looked at each one of the leaders and we all looked at him. We turned and looked at the border guard, who smiled. Then, we turned around and left the waiting room. Outside, because of the dead battery, all of his friends were still there. Everybody witnessed God at work, turning the impossible into no big deal. Everybody was a witness, even the border guard who, as we left, smiled and asked us, "Will you pray for me?"
Prayer and faith, even in the face of doubt, are so powerful because we serve a powerful, loving God. Praise him for this miracle and the miracles he performs in your lives! Please be in prayer for our student(s) who experienced this, that they would grow closer to Jesus. Pray that he / they would recognize that they are sincerely loved by their teachers and by God.
Peace,
Caleb & Britney & Baby!
