LEBANON, Mo. – Roger Sherrer was looking for his package. A parcel company carrying an order for some sports memorabilia had not shown up on the expected delivery date. It was to have been delivered to the church office at First Baptist Church in Lebanon where Sherrer is one of the pastors. But instead the package accidentally went to a family in a town about 70 miles away.
That was a “divine appointment” that the Lord set up, Sherrer said. Through this misdirected package he was able to meet a little boy with cancer, along with his family, who very much needed a pastor.
“It was the most impactful knock on a door I had ever made,” the pastor said.
The church office got a phone call from a lady in the Versailles area saying she had received a package with Sherrer’s name and the church name, and it was not hers. It had been delivered along with a large shipment of medical supplies.
Sherrer decided not to try to arrange for the parcel company to pick it up and redeliver it to his office. He needed to go to the Lake of the Ozarks area for a hospital visit anyway, so he took a detour to Versailles located a little west of there.
He said the address was in a very rural and remote location, and he drove and drove. His GPS lost signal, and he was on his own to find the address. Sherrer admitted he was not very happy with his parcel company.
But once he arrived and the lady got him his package, he realized he had been sent to the right place after all. The boxes of medical equipment and supplies revealed that a 9-year-old, chronically ill boy lived there and required constant medical care.
The boy’s name is Johnathan Rand. His mother Jenny and grandmother Donna take care of him around the clock. His brain cancer is considered stage 4, and they don’t know how much longer he will live. He has been sick most of his life.
Sherrer’s heart melted. The grandmother handed the package to him, but he didn’t leave right away. It was very obvious to the pastor that the Lord had sent him there for a purpose. He assured them that he and the church would be visiting and helping them as they provide care for Johnathan.
“I’m going to be a pastor to them forever,” he said later.
The church heard of the visit in a sermon the next Sunday, and people began offering to help the family. Gifts and financial help soon accumulated. Jenny and Donna had to admit Johnathan to a hospital in Columbia around the holiday season last year.
While Sherrer was regularly visiting the family, he also arranged for others to come see Johnathan. Sherrer, a former Laclede County Sherrif’s deputy, arranged for gifts to be delivered to Johnathan in the hospital by several fire and police department officers area. At least four separate departments brought toys and other gifts.
Johnathan is in a wheelchair stroller and has a lot of medical equipment connected to him. He is cheerful in spite of his physical condition. He is non-verbal and has a sweet disposition. He responds to the pastor with eye movements. Sherrer has spent a lot of time with this family in the last seven months.
At Christmastime the pastor reminded his church that the innkeeper in Jesus’ birthplace of Bethlehem was in the right place at the right time. The misdirected package put the pastor there in a similar situation.
The Rand family are believers in Jesus, though they do not get to attend church very often. Donna, the grandmother, told the pastor, “When we noticed the label on the package was addressed to a church, we knew this package was not delivered here by accident.”
The church has embraced the family.
“It was a reminder that in an accidental encounter, God can use a negative situation for eternal consequences,” Sherrer said, adding that it has provided an opportunity for the church to “be Jesus” to the family in need of a warm touch.
“When Johnathan is reunited with God someday, this family has a pastor and a church standing with them,” he said.
This article was originally published in The Pathway.
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