How Often Do You Underestimate God?

A few days ago I had two evangelistic encounters where I admitted how much I underestimated God. In the first instance, a lady had asked to meet me in a local restaurant to discuss her search for God. She first contacted me over 30 days ago. I told her I never really expected her to call again and want to meet as she had first asked. I underestimated that God’s presence had been dealing with her in her journey to know him. I personally invited her to attend our church this weekend.

The second encounter was when Carmen and I were at Panera Bread for dinner and coffee. A young man and his wife came up to me and said “you look familiar to us.” They knew me from another church where I used to serve as Executive Pastor. They were not part of the congregation but had relatives who were.

Interestingly, this couple had just moved here from Jefferson City, Missouri about two weeks ago. He had a new sales position and had just rented a house for their family. We spoke briefly at the restaurant. I asked him where they attended church. He said they were looking. I invited him in a general way to our church sometime. I gave him my business card and asked for a phone number and said I would follow-up with a phone call. We both said, “good to see you again” and then we left.

Later in the evening, God spoke to me again and said “you’ve underestimated me once more.” I had remembered how I heard Doug Anderson from the Reuben Job Institute, weeks earlier in Fayetteville, Arkansas, said there are 3 components to a personal invitation.
1. It is personal
2. It is specific
3. It is relational

So, I called the couple whom I met at Panera and explained how I believed God arranged our impromptu meeting. This was my opportunity to make the invite a “do over” and most of all specific. I said “_____I want to personally invite you to attend our church (not sometime, as before) but this next Sunday. I shared with him about my current message series from Luke 15 the Prodigal Son story. He said that he would definitely discuss the personal invitation with his wife and they would come.
Wow! I underestimated God twice in one day!