Beginning in mid April 2015, I experienced a two month string of personal struggles. An agonizing death in the family, multiple cross country trips, a significant illness, medical biopsies and a severe lack of business all combined to create significant stress and frustration. Consequently, I developed a mild case of shingles from the intense stress. I battled to climb out of this seemingly endless succession of negative circumstances.
Then on June 14th, Father’s Day, an extraordinary thing happened. In order to understand, I had to be prepared five days prior.
During the previous five days I mulled over my fascination with the topic of conversation from our midweek small group discussion at church. The subject that captured my attention was the implications of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4: 5-10). I had read the story many times before, but suddenly it had new meaning that prompted deep thought throughout the time leading up to Sunday.
The experience of Jesus and His disciples indicated a purposeful plan on His part. He knew that His disciples had a deeply negative perspective on the Samaritans. In fact, they were forbidden to associate with them. So Jesus deliberately chose a path that led through Samaria. His point, also shown in His parable of the Good Samaritan, was that even though we may not agree with someone’s views, it is not reason to reject them.
I was convinced that the Holy Spirit planted a thought deep in my mind. It was “Each of us have Samaritans in our life, people we just don’t like, maybe even despise. We may have legitimate reasons for such thoughts and feelings, but to be like Jesus, we must overcome them and open ourselves up to them just as Jesus did for the Samaritan woman.”
When Sunday dawned, Carol and I decided to go to our National City church for Sunday service. Normally we would have gone to our Vista church that is not bilingual. Our Bishop was in National City to conduct the divine service that included Confirmation of one of our youth.
My wife and I arrived at the church, greeted a few of the members and took our usual seats. I prayed for our blessing before the service began and sat quietly in anticipation of how the Holy Spirit would answer my prayer.
The service commenced at 10:30. Then, about fifteen minutes into the service, a man and woman came in and sat across the aisle from us.
I glanced over and saw a man who looked exactly like a coworker I had not seen since 1988, twenty seven years ago. During the ten years I worked with him, he verbally abused all of the engineers in my department I assigned to work on his projects. His management tactics were diametrically opposed to mine. His destructive methods were a bane for me; he was a big and painful thorn in my side for ten years.
My mind raced with the thought, “Could it really be him?”
I tried to dismiss it and tried to justify that he was really someone else. I just could not believe that this man would have ever come into our church. He was the very last person on earth that I expected to see in a New Apostolic Church. Even more remote was that he would come to National City, a bi-lingual congregation. This was the last congregation in the USA or the world that I imagined he would be. Taking all this in really shook me up.
I quietly prayed and asked the Lord, “If this is who I think it is Lord, show me what I should see? What is Your purpose?”
Immediately the thought came, “He is your Samaritan, whose antics you despised and so often told others about. Now here he is, welcome him with open forgiving arms.”
Moments later the choir arose to sing. The couple got up, came across the aisle and sat right in front of me. Now I couldn’t take my eyes off him and finally accepted it really was this man from my past!
After the service, I retrieved my voice recorder from the altar, turned and noticed the couple leaving. I worked my way through the crowd and caught up to them in the foyer.
The woman looked at me and said, “Evangelist, many years ago you baptized my son here in this congregation.”
Surprised, I replied, “I am sorry, but I do not remember you.”
Immediately I looked at the man standing next to her and said, “But, I remember you.”
The man looked at me surprised and said, “You don’t know me, we have never met!”
I looked him in the eye and said, “Oh yes we have, you are Mike Smith .”*
He retorted, “How did you know my name? Who are you?”
I said, “I am Allan Musterer, we worked together from 1978 to 1988.”
My mind was pulsating rapidly realizing what God had just done in extreme measure. He took a church member from Florida who had a connection to the National City congregation and with me and connected her in a unique way to my Samaritan. Then He brought them to San Diego for Father’s Day where she invited him to join her at our church. I was overwhelmed with a sense of awe at all this.
We stepped outside and I spoke with Mike for only few minutes because he and his companion were running late for meeting their sons. I gave Mike my business card and he said he would be in touch.
Afterward I reflected on what had transpired and harbored pangs of guilt for not furthering a conversation with his companion who I still didn’t recognize. She was an essential part of God’s plan. I hoped to get in touch with her as well to understand more details of how everything came together that morning. It was all still incomplete.
For the next few weeks, this couple returned to the services each Sunday in National City. My wife and I attended our Vista congregation those weeks but a friend was able to get their contact information. I eventually contacted both of them after they returned to Florida.
I learned that they worked together in Florida and had come to San Diego to visit their respective sons for Father’s Day. I learned that the woman’s name was Marilyn and when she told me her son’s name was Allan, I finally remembered the baptism that took place many years before. My conversations with Marilyn indicated that Mike had changed his management style from the years I had worked with him.
Turning Points
How great is our God! I remain in awe of what extraordinary lengths He will go to in order to teach me and help me to grow past the remaining obstacles to my spiritual progress. I search for other Samaritans in my past that I need to put into the new category of “Beloved Neighbor.”
* Mike Smith is a fictitious name
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