Help from Canada

"Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God" (Zechariah 6:15 NIV).

Back in early 2002, I was going through a difficult season of personal doubt. My mother had recently passed away, the church was experiencing some disunity, and I was feeling uncertain about where I was in life.

I didn't doubt God. I doubted myself. I decided to take a three-day fast and pray, asking God for direction.

The first 24 hours were miserable. I was hungry. I had a caffeine withdrawal headache. And I wasn't hearing anything from God.

God never seems to work according to my schedule.

Late that night, I finally sensed God speaking to me. I knew it must be Him because I was feeling led to read from Zechariah (Not a book I would have chosen on my own).

In the book of Zechariah, God spoke to the people who were rebuilding the temple. They had started the work, but had been unable to complete it. They were discouraged and filled with doubt. Through the prophet Zechariah, God told them to keep working and not to "despise the day of small beginnings." He told their leader, Zerubbabel, that he had laid the foundation and that he would be there to set the capstone. In other words, God told him that he would finish what he had started.

Those words were like food to my soul. God sent me back to Wilson from this three-day fast, filled with encouragement and calling. He reaffirmed my call to continue in this work that He had called me to start.

Recently, the experience I had with God while fasting and reading Zechariah came back to me. I was at breakfast with my family, describing the exciting things going on with our new property. I was explaining how miraculous it was that we had people coming all the way from Canada to help take out the old theatre seats, screens and curtains.

"So, we were going to have to do the demolition anyway, but this theatre owner in Canada responded to our Ebay ad for the seats. Not only was he willing to buy them, he was willing to come down, remove them and transport them back to Canada!" I explained.

My daughter-in-law, Caroline, responded, "Wow. That's amazing... that they would come from so far away."

"What did you just say?" I blurted out, nearly choking on my toast.

It was then I remembered something else I had read in Zechariah, that "those who are far away would come" to help us build.

"God sent these guys all the way from Canada to help us!" I jumped up from the table shouting (To the surprised looks of my family). "God is doing it. He is doing everything He told me!"

I had forgotten some of the details from that time back in 2002, but now I'm re-reading Zechariah. The same God that encouraged the Jewish exiles to return to the work of rebuilding the temple, still lives. He sent them help from far away.

And I believe He sent us help from Canada.