I’ve grown accustomed to hearing the above phrase used in reference to God and his actions in our lives, but this was different….I was reading the phrase yesterday on the marquee of a closed down stripper club.  It piqued my curiosity.  It also took me back in time.

Back when we lived in the the outer rim of civilization near Mesa, Arizona, our two oldest children spent a year attending a beautiful, mission-style Anglican church school.

Trinity Christian School remains the most beautiful campus I’ve ever seen. The highlight of each morning took place as I drove the kids to study amidst the cacti, tumbleweed, boulders, and sand. There was, however, one blemish: one mile from the school, there was an intersection that contained a single business–a triple x-rated video store. I hated this interruption to the beauty that surrounded us. We’d developed a habit of praying before they left the vehicle to go to class, so I began asking God if he would mind shutting down that business. For three or four months, it became part of our morning prayer ritual–asking the Creator of the universe to remove an adult video store from our morning desert drives.

Something happens when you pray with children. At the same time you’re thinking, “Yeah, I know, this is never going to happen,” children are asking in faith. They haven’t lived to take on the doubt and cynicism that often infect our adult hearts.

Imagine our delight the morning we made our drive to school and saw on the marquee of that adult video store, “LOST OUR LEASE!  EVERYTHING HALF PRICE!” The Creator of the Universe, the Redeemer of our souls, had heard our prayers and answered in a “Too easy!” fashion!

The building was bulldozed, and up came an Exxon/McDonalds there in the middle of the desert….with no other businesses around! Okay, I’m not going to pretend it was nearly as pretty as our little church school, but it KILLED the ugliness of the adult video store. Furthermore, it provided a place where we could get fuel and ice cream in one stop.

I hope yesterday’s “Expect the Unexpected” message at this newly closed-down stripper bar in San Antonio will yield way to something amazing God’s going to do. I pray that women will no longer be legally degraded, objectified, demeaned, and bought & sold in that building. My prayer is that whatever the “unexpected,” may entail in this situation, it will, at the very least, involve ice cream or, better yet, a church.