“Stop studying Adam, get in your car and drive to BC.” Ok God, if you insist. Sometimes it is difficult to follow a prompting from the Holy Spirit and sometimes it is quite easy. This one was quite easy.
It was April of 1998 and I was in my second year of engineering at the University of Alberta. I was in the co-op program and was ready to work my first work term. A couple months before my mom had come to Edmonton to visit me in my unorganized 2 bedroom apartment on the 11th floor of a downtown high-rise. I shared with her my frustration as I had applied for many jobs and had been interviewed for a few, but still did not know what my summer would look like. I was getting antsy.
My mom suggested that we pray about it and the next morning I had a call from a coal mine near Elkford, BC with an offer for the summer. Yeah God! What a quick answer to prayer! I accepted and was told that they would put me in an apartment with a couple other co-op students for the summer. Sweet, summer job all figured out, but wait, where in the world is Elkford? I was told it was near Fernie and I had been there with my family on one of our epic summer camping adventures with our white four door Chevy Caprice with a 12 foot aluminum boat on top and a tent trailer behind with all five bikes on the trailer.
The classes for the semester had finished and I was in the middle of studying and writing my final exams, and that’s when I felt the prompting of God “Stop studying Adam, get in your car and drive to Elkford.” Boom, I jumped in my beautiful faded Red 1988 2 Door Chevy Cavalier with an aftermarket Alpine CD player. Six hours of some of the most scenic driving that car had ever seen, I arrived in Elkford.
I did not have peace about sharing an apartment with a couple strangers so my plan was to drive past a house with a nice big sign on the front lawn advertising a basement suite or bedroom for rent. I drove past every house in town, and in those 18 minutes did not see a single sign advertising a room for rent. What was I doing? I should really be studying. I stopped at the mall looking for a board full of rental advertisements, nothing. I stopped at the tourist information, nothing.
I struck up a conversation with the lady from the tourist information which led me to introduce myself to the lady that owned the bookstore across the hall which led to me getting a free supper with her and her husband (sweet) which led to them offering to rent out a room to me for those 4 months. It was amazing to experience the hand of God literally leading me right to this couple that day, God is so good!
I am so thankful that I listened to the prompting of the Holy Spirit as those four months living in Elkford were very transformative for me on my spiritual journey. I am also thankful that 17 years later, my wife Shauna and I listened to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to apply for the Lead Pastor position at Elkford Alliance Church. It is great to be led back to the place that God led me to 17 years ago and to be an instrument in His hands to move the kingdom of Jesus forward. We have been here as a family for just over a year now, and love the church and the community, and it is exciting to see God at work in many people’s lives.
