It was the late 1970's and smugglers were hard at work in eastern Europe. These were not your typical smugglers, but the goods they were carrying across the boarder were as illegal as anything you have today. And as the train chugged along late into the night the smuggler was trying to blend in, trying not to be noticed, trying to look cool, calm, and collected. The long blowing of the whistle alerted the smuggler that the train had just crossed into Hungary and that the communist customs agents would be passing through the cars to check passports. This would be the last check point before he would arrive in Budapest.
There was a knock on his door and it opened before he could get up. 2 men quickly entered the small compartment and glanced around. The smuggler had his passport out and his documents ready for the agents. As one looked at the stamps on the passport the other searched the room with his eyes to see if anything was out of place. Only a shoulder bag and a canvas duffel bag shoved under the seat. The sharp edges pressing out on the cloth bag was all the agent needed to see. He quickly pulled out the bag and opened it. Bibles. Dozens of them. Bibles being smuggled into communist Hungary to be given away. The Christian's personal Bible, with all of his notes, was in his shoulder bag. With one quick move the window was opened and the Bibles were tossed from the train into the blackness of the night. The agents smiled and walked out. No need to do anything else they thought.
He had failed. This time. He moaned over the fact that he did not succeed, and even more so that his personal study Bible went out the window with the others. He knew that Romans 8:28 said that all things work for good, but how in the world would Bibles scattered along the desolate area of the train route do any good whatsoever? It would take 3 years for him to find out the answer to that question. He returned home and began plans to try again.
Nearly 3 years to the day that his study Bible was tossed out the window, our Christian smuggler received a package in the mail. Wrapped in plain brown packaging paper, he saw that the package originated in Austria. When he opened the package he was surprised to see his study Bible! Inside the Bible were all of his notes and lessons and a piece of paper with a note written on it. It read, "To my beloved brother in Christ, greetings! I found your Bible along with the bag of others along side the railroad track near my house. You surely were the answer to the prayers of those of us here for we have no idea how you knew to throw the Bibles out when you did, in the middle of the night so close to my house. We have distributed the Bibles that you gave us and copied your notes and lessons. Thank you for the wonderful gifts, we will never forget you."
You see, his name and address was on the inside cover of his Bible. The man who found the Bibles spent the next 3 years copying the notes and lessons by hand and placed them inside every Bible that he gave away. Once that was done, he crossed over the boarder into Austria to mail the Bible back to its owner in a country that would not search what was inside the package. The smuggler WAS successful in his mission, even though he did not know it at the time. God certainly does move in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.
How is God going to use you today? Don't think for a moment that He isn't, for He surely is at work among us. You never know, but things you did even a few years ago might have a strange and wonderful ending... all because you did your part... you tried. That is what God wants us to do... TRY. You may not say the exact right thing, or do something the exact right way, but God will use your efforts to bring forth a harvest. So get up, get out, and get going... go do something for God today. He will take care of the rest.
TR
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