Krista and The Black Vultures

A Story of a Divine Meeting

It was a Sunday in August. The heat sweltered outside and pressed against the walls of the church. I sat in my seat and looked up at the stage. We had a guest speaker that day and he began a sermon on divine encounters. He cited the story in Acts 8:26-40 where Philip runs over to a carriage at God’s command: “Go over and join this chariot” (Acts 8:29 ESV). When looking inside, Philip finds a eunuch reading Isaiah and asks if he understands what he is reading. The eunuch says he cannot unless someone explains it to him. Philip then tells the eunuch the good news and the story ends with the eunuch being baptized.

At the end of his sermon, the speaker challenged us: will you pray for God to give you a divine encounter? I squirmed in my seat. Fear crept up my spine and whispered, what if God pushes you to do something that scares you? Like Philip. What if he asks you to talk to a stranger? Or sends you to someone you don’t like?

I swallowed my fear and bowed my head as the speaker prayed. Lord, please send me a divine encounter.

That next week, I walked on eggshells. I tiptoed into stores and kept my head on a swivel. Is the Starbucks cashier my divine encounter? What about that man in the parking lot? Should I just go up to that person and start talking about Jesus?

With each passing day, nothing seemed to happen. The prayer soon faded out of mind and I continued to live my life as normal. Maybe God doesn’t have a divine encounter for me—at least not yet.

More time passed and I decided I wanted to start serving the church. I started praying through each volunteering option on my church’s website. I felt the Lord tell me no for each one until I landed on serving at Kids Club. This was an afterschool service where volunteers led elementary schoolers in worship and learning about the Bible. I looked at the details more closely and gasped. One group was at my old elementary school and hosted on the only day I was free each week. It felt like a wink from God. I filled out the application and eagerly waited for them to reach out to me.

A week went by. Then two. I looked up towards the sky, Lord, I thought you said you wanted me to do this? Why aren’t they responding?

More time passed and I thought to myself, maybe it wasn’t meant to be.

One morning in October, I was praying and felt the Lord tell me to read Joyce Meyer’s devotional for the day. For the past month, I had been wrestling with myself that I needed to start being more active. Yet, despite all my “I’ll start tomorrow’s,” I never did. In this devotional, Joyce spoke about exercise and quoted James 4:17: “If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.” I immediately jumped out of my seat and determined to go on a walk right then. I knew it would be good to start exercising and I wouldn’t waste a minute.

My neighborhood runs alongside a trail. So when one is walking, they can decide to walk on down on the sidewalk next to the houses or up on the trail shaded by the trees. I don’t want to be near anybody, so I am going to walk on the sidewalk instead of the busy trail. I was only walking for a short while before I heard a small, still voice say, Go up on the trail. I looked at the trail with reluctance. But God, I spoke in my spirit, there are people up there and I want to be alone. Still, I felt the Lord nudging me to walk on the trail instead. As I moved towards the trail, I saw an old woman walking her dog. Believing that she’d likely be a slow walker, I decided to go down by the river for a moment and give her a head start. The water caught the reflection of the sky and tumbled lazily over the rocks. After a time, I decided the old woman was probably far enough along by then. Yet as I turned around, I found that the woman had not continued walking and was instead walking right towards me!

She spoke to me with a German accent, “I saw baby ducks down there being protected by a white bird. There were great vultures around the ducks, trying to eat them!”

I looked in the direction she was pointing but couldn’t see them. “Oh wow! Really?”

“Yes, I tried to wave them away, but they wouldn’t listen to me.”

“Oh no. Well at least they have the white bird with them,” I replied with a half-smile.

She then said her name was Krista and that she walked the trail often. She gestured to her dog and said it was her neighbors. Krista would walk the dog for her during the day as the woman worked. Krista then mentioned that in the past she would even walk the trail all the way down to her church which wasn’t too far. A spark went off in my spirit. Ok Lord, what are you doing here?

Krista then asked if I wanted to go see the baby ducks. I said yes and, as we walked, I asked her about her journey as a Christian. She told me of the story of one of her prized possessions. One day when she was at the beach with her sister, she asked the Lord to give her a treasure. In the next moment, she turned around and saw a perfectly smooth piece of driftwood in the shape of a ‘J’. There was no other driftwood on the beach and Krista knew it was an answer to her prayer. Jesus sent that letter ‘J’ just for her. Elated, she took it and has it hanging in her kitchen today.

As we got closer to the baby ducks, Krista said in passing that she had volunteered at Kids Club. I had not mentioned a word about it. A warmth blossomed in my heart and a smile came to my face. I see what you’re doing, Lord.

I asked her if she still volunteered. Krista said no, but that her church was looking for people to volunteer. A joy shined through me. I told her that I had no luck signing up at my church. She said to volunteer at hers and to say to them that Krista sent me!

When we later parted, Krista said it felt like a divine meeting. With a huge smile, I said, “It did!”

Shortly after, I visited Krista’s church to meet the pastor and his wife, who was the lead at Kids Club. They told me that they had been praying for someone to volunteer and that I was an answered prayer. In my spirit, I thanked the Lord.

At Kids Club, I was blessed to work with the 2nd graders which was the group I had wanted from the start! I grew to love each of the kids and their unique quirks. I would leave feeling at peace and with laughter in my heart as I remembered the silly things they would say. When the school year came to a close, I was surprised at myself that I felt sad. I would miss my 2nd graders.

It wasn’t until later when I was reflecting on the whole event that I realized God had answered my prayer for a divine meeting. If I had not opened that devotional, if I didn’t go on that walk, if I didn’t go up on the trail, if I didn’t go by the stream, I would have never met Krista at all! Yet, God led me each step of the way and placed me where he wanted me all along—Kids Club! Krista told me that when she saw me on the trail, she felt like she should talk to me. As God spoke to Philip to go over and join the chariot, I believe He whispered to Krista, “Go over and join this girl.”