"I couldn't see His face," the boss said, but His face shone brighter than an angel's face. Gone all the possessiveness, stubbornness, jealousy-all gone. Brokenness molded into Oneness, captured by the evil spirit...set free by the Holy Spirit.

It had been a great day. Evening came, and the light abruptly turned to darkness as it always does in Oman. We were on our way home from deep in the interior of the dry, dusty, desert, mountainous Wadi Hibi-where God had led us. The time we spent in that village was marked by the presence of our Lord's power, grace, and presence. With no road signs, no streetlights, no traffic; it was easy to lose the way, and we did!

Stopped-time went by while our guides discussed just what to do. As our pastor (Ernest) and his wife (Lalitha) prayed, led the singing of hymns and choruses, an anxious voice was heard asking, "How can you sing at times like this?" Came the response, "We have no fear, no stress, no worry because we know that we are in God's loving hands. The same Christ who walked with His disciples on a darkened stormy sea will go with us in a dusty desert. The same Christ who came to Paul in a darkened Roman prison is watching over us."

Somewhere around midnight, we all saw it. Out of the night, a lone vehicle coming toward us. We all felt it, as a strange quietness came over us. The vehicle stopped, the dust settled, and a figure emerged. That turned out to be a local Omani who was able to lead us out of our confusion and uncertainty. How great our God is! He sent us an angel to lead us out of our darkness to a road headed toward the lights of home.

-Rev. Charles Johnson, ex-senior pastor in Oman, Reformed Church of America