ON PUSHING THROUGH June 11, 2012

Pastor Steve

The Work of the Lord always moves forward.  Sometimes events happen as though to hinder its progress but God has built into His Work a fail-proof system whereby the church will never be stopped in its forward motion.  Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

As we stood the tent on Saturday I began to remember the time we bought this tent a few years ago. It was 2005 and we had decided to look for our own circus tent for Victory Bible Camp rather than borrow one from our good friends in Benton, New Brunswick. 

I had heard someone say that they saw a "Tent Sale" online and that I should check it out.  So I did.  I found the site and it was a tent rental company in Toronto that was liquidating a lot of tents that they had purchased from another company that was closing.  I scanned down through the list and finally I found a tent that I felt would be feasible. The description of the tent was a 35’ X 70’ Pikes Tent with aluminum poles and four telescopic center poles and with all the side walls, heavy duty ratchets with binding straps.  In very good condition for $1,900.  I was impressed!  I knew that a tent of this description could cost in excess of $35,000 - $40,000 new.

I called the company and got a salesman on the line.  He said, "Mr. Roach we can have the tent delivered right to your site within three days.  It will be cash on delivery and sold in an “as is” purchase.  In other words, no exchange and no refund.”  I said, “I understand!”  He proceeded to draw up a contract and faxed it to me for verification and my signature.  I returned the signed document by fax. He gave me a phone number where I could reach him direct.

We waited the three days.  No sign of the tent. I called the rep and he assured me that it was on it’s way. We waited another three. Still no tent. We were now two weeks from our Children's Camp.  We continued busying ourselves with other things and one afternoon I called the sales rep again. Once again he assured me that the tent would be there tomorrow.  They had encountered a mechanical problem with the truck in Kingston. This went on for the next two weeks and each day I would call, the rep would give me another reason why the tent had not arrived.  One reason was, they were stopped at the border and were not allowed to cross.  I said, “Border?  What border?”  He said the one going into Quebec. I laughed! One day he told me that the truck drove through the night and they got all the way here but couldn’t find the campground so they turned around and drove back to Toronto six hours away!

The Children's Camp began. We still had no tent. At that time we were in the process of building the new camp washrooms and all that was there was a shell.  We tidied it up and used that building as our main meeting place during that week. The last time I spoke with the salesman, he apologized and said he had been at the hospital with his wife and daughter the day before and that his daughter was deathly sick.

As we were in prayer with the camp staff one morning, someone spoke up and said, I think something is trying to hinder this camp from progressing and we need to take authority over it right now!  We prayed!  After our prayer time I went to the phone and called the company.  This time I didn’t use the sales mans number. I spoke with the receptionist and asked to speak with the manager.  She put me through to the "owner" of the company.  I explain what had transpired over the past three or four weeks. I told him my dilemma and that now we were coming to end of our first week of camp without a tent that had been promised.  He asked where I got the advertisement for the tent and I told him.  He laughed and said, "That ad is about five years old and those tents are long gone!!  I knew then that something really strange was going on. He laughed again when I told him about the sales rep being at the hospital with his daughter who was dying.  He said the boy you’re talking about isn’t even married and doesn’t have a daughter! He’s only 21! Now I could hear the tone change in his voice. He asked for my contract number. He couldn’t find anything in the system that pertained to anything I had ordered!  I was very perplexed!

I said, “So what are we going to do about this?"  He said, "We’re going to fix it!  You will have a tent by this time tomorrow! And he will not have a job by this time tomorrow!" The tent arrived be truck the next day.  It wasn’t quite the same as what we thought we were getting but none the less we got our tent! In a later conversation that day with the manager, he said he had confronted the sales guy and fired him on the spot.  Turns out he had duped a few others and somehow had been able to pocket company money.

Even though camp was half finished we all rejoiced because we saw the mountain removed and the tent went up!  

Many times we face obstacles that stand in the way.  But the key is to ”never give up”. Speak to that mountain and tell it to get out of the way! Remember God’s work will always go forward never backward!  You may be facing something very frustrating today. Set your face “FORWARD” and say I’m pushing through this mountain!  God will give you the strength! God said to Joshua, “Be strong and take courage!” I am believing with you that this mountain must move!  "Mountain of hindrance.....GET OUT OF THE WAY!!"