God dictates our plans

WHO WE ARE | PEOPLE

Major Silvano Diaz, special projects and property officer for the Adult Rehabilitation Centers Command (ARCC) in West Nyack, N.Y., talks about “miracle donations,” preaching with an accent, and remembering that God is always in control.

As a teenager, I wanted to serve God, but I didn’t want to do the work of feeding others. When I looked into becoming an officer, I thought, I’m not sure I want to wear a uniform. Even during my cancer treatment, with a painful tube in my nose, I asked God, “Why do You have me here when You need me out there working?” Then I heard God say, “At your church, you talk about Me and praise Me to others. But here, you talk to Me as if you are in control. I’m the one who commands you.” I had tried to control how I would serve God, but I learned that it is God who dictates how we will serve Him.

One of my first jobs for The Salvation Army was in my country of Spain where I worked in a home for the elderly. At first I wondered, What ministry could I give to someone who is in pain, or dying? One day, a 100-yearold man came to me and said, “You have what I’ve been searching for all my life. I can go in peace now.” After hearing me talk, he had accepted the Lord as his Savior. Now he knew where he was going after he left this earth. That’s when I understood why I was there. I saw peace and calm in the faces of people who knew they would soon be with God. Years later, when my doctor gave me a cancer diagnosis, I had that same peace; I was not afraid. If it was my time to go, then I knew where I would go, and to whom.

At my appointment at the Jersey City, N.J., ARC, I found it difficult to preach sermons in my broken English. I asked for a translator, but had to continue preaching with my heavy accent. Six months in, a beneficiary came to my office to thank me. He said that he had accepted God in his life, and it was because of me. I said to him that it was God he should thank. But he said, “In this case, it’s definitely you. At first, I didn’t want to be here or listen to anyone, but when you spoke, I couldn’t understand a word you were saying. So, I actually had to pay close attention. That was when the Lord spoke to me.” After that, I never worried about translation. I kept on preaching, broken English and all.

Our human bodies will stay on earth; they won’t be preserved simply because they belong to us. When we clip our nails, we don’t keep the clippings. The rest of our body is the same way. Someone at age 25 looks different than when he or she was 5. That person has a whole new body. So, why should it surprise any of us that we will one day have a new, glorified body when we leave our old body here on earth? When Jesus rose on the third day, He had a new body that accompanied Him to Heaven. We are only here for a time, but we were created to spend eternity with God.

We had a budget of 80,000 Spanish pesetas (about $575) per week to keep the home for the elderly running. One December, we were without funds, and feared we might have to close the home. While in the garden, worried, I was approached by two women. They said that the Lord had called their congregation to take a collection for us. A collection for a small church in Spain could get around 300 pesetas; they had exactly 80,000. I asked how they knew that it was the amount I needed. They said that God told them so. They gave me the money, and I never saw them again. I asked other local churches about the donation; no one said they knew these women or their church. It would not surprise me if one day in Heaven I come across two angels with familiar faces, and I’m reminded of their donation.

Interview by HUGO BRAVO