Story Time

This is Arul, his wife Kumari, and his two daughters Rosalin (closest to me) and Marlin (in the

middle).

About two months ago, I went across town to pick up some groceries and I needed to get an auto aka a “tuk tuk” back to the house (an auto is basically a little 3 wheeler cab that gets you around the city) and I flagged one down on the side of the road. It was nothing special to me seeing as we get auto’s everyday out here. But I didn’t know at the time that I was supposedly an answer to prayer.

I jumped into the back of his auto and he took me home. Sometimes I will have pretty silent journey’s home and sometimes I’m feeling a little bit more talkative but on this particular occasion I felt like God was prompting me to have a conversation with this man. At the end of our conversation and having spoken a little bit about himself and him asking me about what I’m doing in Chennai, I pulled out a Freedom Church business card and handed it to him, to which he was more than happy to come to church on Sunday and see what was going on.

I asked him what his name was and he said “Arul”.

Arul did turn up on Sunday and has come every week since with both his daughter’s and wife. He came to Ownership Night 4 weeks ago and told one of our team that Freedom Church has changed his life and he loves getting to be apart of what God is doing. Last Sunday, Arul and his family all signed up to become volunteers at Freedom Church and last week I got the opportunity to go out to their house and spend time with them all.

I got picked up at 4pm and we arrived at their house about an hour later. Arul took the time to tell me his story and how it’s a miracle that we met and was certainly no coincidence.

At age 5 Arul’s mother died, leaving his father to look after him and his 5 siblings. In India it is very rare for father’s to both go out to work and be able to raise a family. So his father was left with no other option than to place them into an orphanage. Arul and his siblings would see their father twice a year.

Arul’s dad is a pastor of a church in Chennai and has been for the past 67 years, and Arul wanted to follow the family tradition. He went to Bible college, got married at the age of 29 and had two children. For the past 23 years he has dedicated his life both to being a pastor at is father’s church and earning money for both his daughter’s educations.

He told me that he works from 9am-11pm every day to ensure that his daughter’s will have a great life.

He also told me that on March 23rd 2015, he had a life threatening accident in his auto and after recovering, felt that God was calling him into ministry. He believed at the time that it had something to do with setting up an orphanage but he wasn’t entirely sure. Then in December last year he began 100 days of prayer and fasting with March 23rd being his end date. In that time, he wanted God to reveal to him what his next step looked like within this ministry idea. And on the 100th day, I jumped into the back of his auto and gave him a card to Freedom Church!

He knew that God was giving him an opportunity and therefore he has poured himself into Freedom Church and is truly dedicating himself to it.

I feel so blessed that God used me to be apart of this family’s story. I’ve never felt more under God’s hand, never felt more in the right place and I’m so excited for the stories to come.

If you ever feel like you're not in the right place, or you're just waiting for the next big thing, you know it's coming but you're not there yet. Just look around you, there's plenty of fish to be caught, plenty of people to love, and so many people praying that you'll just step out. We're called for such a time as this.

God turns the ordinary to extraordinary. Trust me, he can do it for you too.