Miracles From A Volcano

After a day of getting things accomplished, Sveinbjörn had a relaxing lunch at our home.

Last Friday was the men's meeting. The first man came right on time at 7:30; he is definitely old school as far as being prompt. The second came about 8:30, straight from work with dinner. He ate and we talked. At 9:20 the doorbell rang again. Who in the world would come to the meeting this late?

I opened the door and came to a full halt. It was a man I didn't know, dressed smartly in black. "Is this the men's meeting?" he asked.

"Yes," I said. "Are you with Gavin (one of the guys already inside), or….?"

"No, I'm from Iceland."

I invited him in and asked him his name. He was Sveinbjörn Gizurarson, a university professor from Reyjkavik, Iceland. He had come to England to speak at a conference in his field, biopharmaceuticals, and had stayed to catch the rest of the conference instead of flying back after his lecture. When the volcano in Iceland erupted, he was stranded with no way of getting home. He was at the Marriott in Twickenham with nothing to do and going stir crazy until he decided to find a church and get some fellowship. He googled around until he found our website. He saw the men's meeting was on and figured since the church was in Twickenham, it couldn't be that far. So he set out walking and reached us in Ashford Common two hours later. We had a great night of fellowship and prayer.

The men drove him back to the hotel that night. We saw him next at church on Sunday. After the meeting I was eager to introduce him around. I had him meet Dieudonné Lumbi, the ophthalmology student from Congo. Some years ago Sveinbjörn wanted to do work in Congo, but contact with possible avenues had been lost. The more he and Dieudonné talked the more they realized they were headed in the same ministry direction. They are going to stay in touch. 

I am going to stay in touch as well. God used a volcano to bring us all together, and to lay the foundation for ministry in the future.

By the way, I heard Sveinbjörn say the name of that crazy volcano twice but I still can't pronounce it right.