Our Abba God can absolutely use anything. On our recent trip to Israel, He used a blue metal water bottle.

We were in Newark at our gate, waiting to board the flight to Israel. We still had some time, so we were finishing lunch and people-watching. There was a sweet couple across the way from us. I had noticed them but hadn’t really paid a great deal of attention to them.

Suddenly we heard a loud CLANG, CLANG, CLANG. We looked up to see a blue water bottle rolling across the airport floor. I said, “Baxter, they have a blue RRR (Rock Road Rabbi) water bottle! They are going on the trip too!”

In perfect Baxter character, he said, “I’m going to go meet them right now.” And we did. He was a pastor from Chicago. Bill and his wife, Betty Hillsman. They were traveling with her brother and his wife. Thus began a close friendship.

Wherever we went the entire trip, Baxter and Bill seemed to find one another. They would always tell one another, “I’ve got you.” Baxter would come up behind Bill and take him by the shoulder. They would laugh. Or Bill would come up and lay his hand on Baxter’s shoulder affirming him. We could not know how much this would mean.

On the day we were in Jerusalem walking the Via Dolorosa, Baxter came up behind Bill and grabbed him by the shoulders as he had done all week. Bill latched on to Baxter. He said, “Baxter if you had not caught me by the shoulder at that moment, I would have face-planted on this stone road.” Bill’s knees had gone limp and he was going down. He was dehydrated.

We got Bill water and Gatorade. He seemed to recover quickly. What could have been a nasty fall…didn’t happen.

Bill and Betty talked to us about Baxter coming up at the exact moment Bill needed help. All four of us agreed that a good, good God had used a blue water bottle to begin the relationship we all would need.

Sometimes the seemingly most insignificant thing can actually be a very significant thing. Our God most surely can use anything.