Lights flashed and sirens screamed from inside my work colleague’s car as he jammed on the brakes and decelerated from 150km to 100km, to pass the traffic cop unnoticed.
As we rounded the next bendhe quickly sped up,making the most of the power and warning systems inside his car, until another obstacle appeared in his path to slow him down.
This was a trip that would normally take 40 minutes, and up to 90 minutes in peak traffic, but in my work colleague’s souped up Nissan Sentra it was possible to arrive at work within 25 minutes.
And he was well prepared, having installed not one but two early warning radar systems, to create a fail-safe way to speed to work without penalty.
Occasionally I would use this adrenalin inducing method to travelby car to workearly and save myself 15 minutes.
This was my worldly way of saving time.It was not until I found God, I discovered it was possible to find other ways to savetime.
God and time travel
Once on a mission trip to Turkey, I witnessed a miracle in time travel which I still find difficult to fathom to this day.
Our group were travelling by bus from Cappadocia to Tarsus when we hit a snow storm which blocked the highwayfor over two hours.
The bus did not have an on-board toilet and after being on the bus for well over four hours I was desperate.
After holding on for what seemed like hours we passed a road sign that read‘Tarsus 20 kms’. I cried out to the Lord that I could not hold on for another 20kms. Two minutes later we arrived at the Tarsus railway stationand in relief,I made a dashfor it to the toilet cubicles.
To this day I cannot explain this. Perhaps, I misread the sign and it said ‘Tarsus 2kms’, but why would a sign say 2kms to Tarsus?
There is an example in the Bible when Philip appears to be miraculously transported to another place by the Spirit of God, after baptising an Ethiopian eunuch.
Acts chapter 8, verses 38-40
“And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.
Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and travelled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.”
At church gatherings I have heard others talk about God enabling them to travel to places in a much shorter time than what is humanly possible.
God the time organiser
Another time I witnessed a time miracle was at work.
It was a busy period and our management reports were dueby the end of the day.
However, I had made contact with a person from Bethel Church who was in Wellington for a couple of days. The only time he was free to meet with me was 5pm that day.
Although inconvenient, I felt it was important to meet up so I arranged the appointment.
The meeting with my Bethel friend was very encouraging and insightful.We talked about how God was moving in the USA and New Zealand and after three hours I returned to my office invigorated, but resigned to the fact that I would be working into the late hours of the night.
To my surprise I discovered a note on my desk. My Finance Manager had completed the work for me.
This had never happened before and has never happened since. God knew this meeting was important and had orchestrated for my reporting work to be done in my absence.
Another friend of mine has a similar story about how after he prayed, he was able to complete two to three hours work in an hour.
Always time
One of the things I have found interesting in my journey with God is that God will often bring somebody or something across our path at the most inconvenient time.
For example, somebody may need help on the street when we are rushing to an appointment, or we could be invited to an event when we already have a full schedule.
It would be easy to say no, but these may be opportunities that could impact our destiny.
This is a timely reminder that God is outside time and holds all things together.
Colossians chapter 1, verse 17
“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”