In 20 years of driving I had never locked my keys in the car, but then it happened-and at what seemed like the worst possible time! I was supposed to drive some of my co-workers to a special dinner with friends, and we would have to cancel.

I phoned a locksmith, but he wanted $35 for the job. As I tried to come up with another idea, one of my co-workers noticed a Latino man in his early 40s pull up near where we were parked. She explained our predicament and that we were missionaries, and asked if he would be willing to drive me the few miles to the campground where we were staying so I could get my other set of keys, and then bring me back. My co-workers would stay with the car. The man cheerfully agreed, as though he had nothing better to do. Almost as surprising, he introduced himself as Vladimir-a Mexican with a Russian name.

As we made our way to the campground, Vladimir started telling me his problems. He was in a state of depression and had just been driving around, hoping that would somehow make him feel better, when he met us. He had been an atheist before he came to the States seven years earlier, but then he had started to believe and go to church. He had even wanted to become a pastor. He had also been a happily married man, the proud father of three beautiful girls. Supporting a family on minimum wage hadn't been easy, and he'd had to work several jobs at a time. He hadn't been home much, and his wife had had an affair with a friend of his. Vladimir's whole world had come crashing down.

I realized that what I had considered a "disaster" had actually been part of God's plan.

Two years later, he was still plagued by nightmares in which he experienced the tortures of extreme jealousy. In his despair he had turned to alcohol and cocaine, but had managed to stop before he got hooked. He hadn't stopped believing in God, but he no longer had a desire to do anything for Him. He'd even lost the desire to live, and was contemplating suicide. On and on he went about his problems.

By the time we got to the campground, Vladimir was all talked out. I shared with him a few verses from the Bible about God's ever-present love and power to help us through life's most trying times, and Vladimir prayed with me to receive Jesus as his Savior. He looked so happy after that. What a change!

He was so thankful, he said, that I had been willing to listen to him. He had been too ashamed to go back to church, and had had no one else he could confide in. When I realized that what I had considered a "disaster"-locking my keys in the car-had actually been part of God's plan to get my path to cross with Vladimir's, how could I continue to be upset with myself? The Lord had crossed my plans in order to work His greater purpose.