The Redemption of Lot Carey

Each birthday I experience I have this growing desire to forget the precise year I was born. Sadly, the older I get the harder it is for me to remember it. At least, I know when I was born.

Lot Carey lived without knowledge of when he was born. He only knew that he was born on a plantation in Richmond Virginia around 1780.  

He grew up on the plantation rejecting the Christ his parents followed. He lived a godless existence. Then, one day, he was sitting in the gallery at the First Baptist Church of Richmond, Virginia listening to a sermon from the third chapter of the gospel of John. He heard the story of Nicodemus coming to Jesus by night, and the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus about being born-again to enter the kingdom of God. When the preacher said, "You must be born-again" the Holy Spirit pierced his heart, and he gave his life to Jesus Christ.

Overtime, Lot Carey redeemed his family from slavery on the Virginia plantation, which enabled him to become the first black missionary to Africa. He died serving the Lord on the mission field. Lot redeemed his family from slavery, but Jesus redeemed him from the slavery of sin, and made him a son.

The gospel is God sending his Son to redeem us from the slavery of sin, securing us as his sons, and giving us freedom to live for God fulfilling his plan for our lives. 

God's Plan Prevails

God is sovereign and in control. I am constantly reminded of this from Proverbs 16:9, "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." This means that no door will open for us, unless God opens it, and no door will close, unless God closes it. A good illustration of this is found in a true story that happened in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, in 1876.

The Methodist Episcopal Church South needed a new building. Therefore, when an individual donated a lot on Oyster Creek Road, they gratefully accepted the gift. The property was in a low-lying area, so they properly constructed the new building up on brick pilings. A few days later a terrible storm came to the area. The town flooded! The new church building was lifted from the brick pilings by the rising waters, and it started floating down the road. People witnessed as the church, still intact, moved down the center of town. At the town center, the building made a sharp right turn and continued to drift with the water until it landed in a vacant lot.

What is amazing is that 130 years later the church still stands in the same lot it landed in, and today is called the Providence Methodist Church. Even more astonishing is the fact that the lot that it landed in was the first lot that the church chose for their new building, but the landowner would not sell it. The morning after the flood, he presented the pastor with the deed. We can make our plans, but God will always determine our steps.