A Very Special Delivery

I've been waiting to post about this until the story had fully unfolded ... and it finally has!

As some of you know, I mailed a package to Ricky in India last week. This was something that I had put off for quite a while, to be honest with you -- not knowing how best to mail it, and not knowing what would be best to send to my brother on the other side of the world.

I finally got my act together and rounded up some things to ship. Among the contents were Daily in His Presence by Andrew Murray (the HFBC daily devotional for 2006), a book about prayer, a book about the Christian faith, some prayer guides from Pray The Word Ministries (praying for your local church and for your pastor), and copies of HFBC's Ekklesia magazine (Missions 2006) in which I mention in an article that Ricky prayed for me while I was in Guatemala last May.

To send the package certified -- so I could track it and verify that it arrived -- would have cost more than $100. Thanks, but no thanks. The cheapest route would have taken up to 2 or 3 months for it to arrive (yes, 2 or 3 months). So, I opted for the middle of the road option and paid about $43 to get it there in 4-8 business days.

I have to tell you that when I went to the Post Office at West Gray and Dunlavy, God provided me with a Christian postal worker -- Shirley. Since I showed up with my stack of contents and no box, she saw the titles of the books I was sending. Shirley's face lit up -- and the encouraging words started to flow!

She said how grateful she was to see a "young man" (that's me -- YOUNG!) with Christian literature and material. I told her the story about Ricky -- my brother on the other side of the world in India. I think it became Shirley's mission in that moment to do all she could to make sure that that package got to Ricky. We spent about 15 minutes looking over the options, ensuring that we had the address formatted the right way, weighing the pros and cons of each delivery method -- while she periodically quoted scripture and prayed over the package!

(Apparently, Shirley was going to retire last year, but God told her to "be still" and to stay at the Post Office. He wasn't done with her yet, she said. I'm so glad that He wasn't!)

Well, I received an e-mail from Ricky today. The package arrived! Here's what he had to say:

"JA MASIH KI, brother. Its like a dream coming true. Thanking you very much I received your package yesterday (31th, March). I cant express my joyness. This is a first time I got a mail from foreign. More than me my parents were waiting for your mail. All the peoples of my street gathered to see your mail. My grandmother was blessing you. I will distribute your magazine, but unlucky noone will be able to read and just see pictures given in it. Brother, you should have given my picture in magazine. You have increased my and mine parents respect by mentioning my name in the magazine. Thanks very much for the package."

I would appreciate your prayers as I continue to encourage Ricky in his faith from the other side of the world through e-mail. Also, please pray that he is able to make the most of the materials I provided him. He has some understanding of English, although I am not sure how skilled he is. Pray that the Spirit is able to give him the understanding that he needs! Finally, please pray that Ricky and his family (and the people in his village) are not focused on me and the package I sent, but rather on God and the Gift that He has given us all!

This week, I'm going back to the Post Office to tell Shirley that the package arrived. I told her that I would!