A recent visit to Students for Christ colleagues in the northern Veneto region of Italy provided ample opportunities for me to see how God orders our steps and surprises us with His serendipities. For instance, while visiting a local church that serves military families in the area, I discovered that the pastor and his wife had in a previous role, been the children’s pastors at a Mississippi church we’d visited during itineration. And they had actually taken our family out to eat after the service. Now they are themselves missionaries in Italy!
Our colleagues who hosted me are closely connected to the local Italian assembly and God has given them great favor in their roles there. Since they themselves grew up in very traditional churches Stateside, they fit like a hand in a glove with the conservative congregation where the Lord has placed them. This too seems to be God’s orchestration!
The last evening of my visit, I had the extreme delight of speaking to a multi-cultural group of students from the university in Padua as well as one of Padua’s university professors who is a committed Christian about the “Why” of reaching students for Christ. Because of the strategic nature of student ministry, I see this as another God-directed “rendez-vous,” as we say here en français!
Ciao!