This story begins on a Friday, around 2:00 PM in Cincinnati, OH.  I kissed my wife and kids goodbye, and started my 4-hour drive to Cleveland, OH for an overnight speaking engagement. About 5 minutes later, I got a call from my wife, Melissa, to ask me if I needed the blue tie that our daughter, Noia, was holding in her hand; this was a unique and beautiful tie that I received as a gift from one of our ministry partners in Japan a few months prior.  My reply was that, yes, I needed the tie as the dress code for the speaking engagement required a suit and tie. I didn’t realize that our little 3-year-old girl had taken the tie out of my bag and was playing with it!  She even said, “Abba, you forgot that I forgot to give you your tie!” 🙂

Since that was the only tie I had packed for the trip, we had to make a U-turn, and returned to pick up my tie. I must admit, I was a tad bit annoyed that we were getting a late start on the journey.  Sure enough, not long after starting the drive on the highway, we got stuck in a road construction zone and the traffic stopped.  We sat without moving for almost two hours.  Then we saw the real reason for the delay; a fatal car accident had occurred not too long before we had arrived at that point. It was at that moment that we thanked God for protecting us from the car accident, and for allowing my little girl to take the tie out of my suitcase …

The following day, after my speaking, I took my tie off and set it down, completely forgetting to pick it up again.  We got into the car to go for lunch before starting our journey back. As we got into the car, I realized that my tie was missing, and when we arrived to the Deli for lunch, we looked everywhere for it. Realizing that it must still be at the location of the speaking, we drove back only to find that it was locked.

I looked through the glass doors and, sure enough, saw my tie hanging on a chair. I started knocking on every door, hoping that someone was there. I finally found one door that was open, and started walking toward my tie. As I was walking, a man stopped me with tears in his eyes, to tell me that he really wanted to talk with me but couldn’t due to the other people that were talking with me after I had finished giving my message. I realized at that moment that I needed to return to that place to be able to minister to this man, whom I believe the Lord wanted me to talk with.

In short, the purpose of this blog entry is to encourage us all to trust the Lord!  At times, things happen in our lives that may not make any sense to us … a flight delay, kids going crazy and causing us to be late, we spill something on our shirts … or our little girl takes a tie out of the suitcase.  Let us trust God in these times, and not get angry or annoyed! Let’s keep our eyes on Him at all times, as we never know if He is protecting us from something … or that He may want us to meet someone and bless them… whatever it may be, be encouraged and trust Him:

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Proverbs 3:56

Shabbat Shalom,

Moran