How God used a broken part to fix a broken soul
Since we’ve been talking about airplane maintenance lately, we thought we’d share a story about one of those inconvenient moments when an airplane wouldn’t start. Even though our pilots and mechanics take excellent care of MAF aircraft, there’s still the chance that the unexpected will happen.
MAF pilot Joe Adams had just delivered a Lesotho Flying Pastor team to the remote mountain village of Matsaile. He was scheduled to stop at the village of Lebakeng next, to pick up a pastor there named Kali (pronounced Kahdee).
“I went to start the airplane and found it wouldn’t start,” said Joe.
He radioed the base for someone to bring out another starter. Joe’s teammate, Bryan Eygabroad, flew out to help him and together they replaced the part.
“But it didn’t solve the problem,” said Joe. “In the end, we had a long day and did not fix the airplane.”
Joe had to crank the propeller by hand until the engine came to life. Then he flew the plane straight back to the MAF base at Maseru, without stopping to get pastor Kali.
“We would have had to start it again by hand. And it’s much harder to do that with a hot engine,” explained Joe.
It was too late in the day to squeeze in another flight to get pastor Kali, which meant he would be spending the night in Lebakeng.
“Sometimes you don’t know why these things happen, but later I got the rest of the story,” said Joe.
That night, pastor Kali and his outreach team ended up having dinner with a young man, Tumelo, who is a pharmacist at the clinic there. As they talked, the pastors were able to share the gospel message with Tumelo, and he chose to follow Jesus!
“A delay and a broken part for a soul into the Kingdom,” said Joe. “What a great trade!”
Today Tumelo is leading a group of new believers in his village. It’s the start of a church in Lebakeng.
“We never know how God is working even in difficult things, so we should always exercise trust and patience regardless of circumstances,” added Joe. “God controls them all.”
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are the called according to His purpose.” – Romans 8:28
