Yesterday we had a completely idyllic day in Wales with friends. To celebrate one of their birthdays we decided to go Toboganning down the Great Orme. Aside from the hour-and-a-half wait, it was wonderful.
Someone had to stay with Esther, who at 17 months, is apparently too young to tobaggan. I sat with her whilst the others waited in the queue.

As I sat on a rock, lulling Esther to sleep in her buggy, a man and his son came and sat down heavily on the grass, clearly exhausted from walking up the enormous hill. The boy went to join the queue and the man went to sleep on the grass in the sunshine next to me.

I thought it strange that he sat so close to us, when there were many other places he could have chosen. I started to wonder if there was a reason.

I waited a full forty minutes before striking up a conversation. (He appeared to need his rest!) During that time I was praying for things in my own life and then asked God for a word for this man.

God pointed out a cleft in the cliff face above me and spoke to me about this man and how He wanted to hide him in a protective place from the wind of what was coming. So I waited until it felt right to speak.

Just as I was about to open my mouth the man sat bolt upright to see where his son was in the queue. He was very disappointed to see that the queue had not moved an inch and that his son was still last.

“Men have died like this!” he laughed.

That was my cue.
We started to talk and he asked me where we were from. I said ‘Sale, Manchester” and he corrected me.

“You mean Cheshire, don’t you?”
“Yes of course,” I smiled. “How do you know Sale?”

He went on to name four of the churches in the area. I was intrigued.
“Are you a vicar?” I asked.

He turned and smiled, ‘Yup! Dead giveaway, huh?”

We had a lovely chat and I shared my picture with him. He was thrilled as earlier that day he and his son had been talking about just that picture of Moses in the Bible – being hidden in the cleft of the rock. He was very encouraged and strengthened by the picture.
It was a really special and beautiful conversation, half way up a mountain, with a total stranger who also loved Jesus.

How wonderful God is, that he even gives us cues because of queues!