God guides our stops and starts. (often with surprises )

It took a miracle to find a friend with whom we had lost contact over fifteen years.

Our friend, Daniel, from Malaysia was a brilliant engineering student at the Adelaide University.

Often Daniel visited our home late at night to pray for the conversion of his fellow students of various ethnic groups. He loved people and they respected him. He was a humble and beloved brother in Christ. About 1 am Daniel casually said, ‘ Well, I must go now for some study,’ and off he drove in his small rattly car.

Daniel revisited Adelaide after working in Kuala Lumpur, but, then, regrettably , we lost contact with him. Years later we flew to Korea and en route we stopped over in Singapore. In spite of many inquiries none of Daniel’s friends knew his whereabouts.

In Korea we taught English at a Missionary Training Institute to those preparing for missionary service. They required a good working knowledge of English when relating to fellow missionaries from English-speaking nations.

It was an intensive course, and we teachers and the students became exhausted by the week’s end. We welcomed the weekend respite to relax in a Korean Doctor’s home, together with a delightful American couple, professors in English, Greek and Hebrew.

Marie decided to buy a pink blouse, so we drove into Seoul with its variety of shops, and goods at reasonable prices. Our patient husbands followed as we hunted for that elusive pink blouse. After walking through numerous shops and winding lanes of open-air stalls, amiable Professor Wilmur suggested,

‘Just one more shop. Then we return home.’ So with little confidence we walked into the last shop on the avenue.

Wearily we trudged down the steps to the basement where the tables overflowed with colourful blouses: yellow, blue, red, green and pink. Marie was ecstatic as she held the pink blouse against her dress.

‘It suits you, Marie. Try it on to make sure it fits,’ I encouraged, and she stepped into the tiny cubicle.

While waiting for Marie I noticed an Indian man standing at the opposite side of the display. I looked away, and then with a furtive sideways glance, I realise his likeness to Daniel. I beckoned to my husband, and whispered, ‘ There’s a man who looks so much like Daniel.’ As my husband followed my gaze across the room the Indian man looked up. In a moment he rushed toward us, and hugged my husband.

‘Doctor Steward, what are you doing in Korea so far from Australia?

‘Daniel, why are you here?’ The two men embraced after the excitement of meeting after fifteen years, while Daniel explained:

‘I now work with a Corporation in Washington, USA, and they sent me to South Korea to report on one of their projects. Tomorrow I leave for Indonesia to inspect another project. I came to buy something for Eve ( his wife ) and the children before I leave on the first plane tomorrow.’ But typical of Daniel’s devotion to his Lord, he added, ‘I am attending an all-night prayer meeting tonight.‘

In the basement of that Korean store Daniel, my husband and I valued those twenty precious minutes together. We exchanged family photos, new home addresses, and quietly prayed for each other, before a warm embrace and farewell until we should meet again.

Even the shop attendants shared our delight as may of them were Christians, and they enjoyed this amazing re-union.

Only God could use a pink blouse to being together an Indian friend from Washington USA to meet Australian friends in a downstairs shop in Seoul, Korea.

‘The steps of a good man are established by the Lord and He delights in his way.’ (Psalm 37:23)

Expect God to surprise you, and have faith to believe Him.