Along the Way: Who Knew?

On many a sunny fall afternoon, Lyles, John and I, and several other boys from First Baptist Church, Denmark, would gather at Lyles’ house to play touch football in a pasture. Though I remember Ricky well, I don’t remember if he ever played with us since he was still very little.

Todd Deaton

Their father, Ben Cook, a dairy farmer, was chairman of the pulpit committee that recommended that First Baptist Church call my father as their pastor in the 1970s. Two weeks before my family moved to Woodruff in the winter of 1979, my dad led Ricky to accept Christ.

I have lost track of Ricky, Lyles and John over the years, but recently a pastor shared some terrific news: Ricky is going to be a missionary. Who knew?

Ricky married his childhood sweetheart, Niki Abstance. They have three children: Austin, 11; Coby, 9; and Kelsey, 6. In 1993, they opened a Subway restaurant in Walhalla, where they also joined College Street Baptist Church. They now have eight stores in towns scattered across the northwest corner of the state.

“We were going to church, but were not extremely active,” Ricky retells his story. “I was letting the business rule my life.”

The Cook Family

Then one day, at the very last minute, Ricky decided to attend a revival at College Street, going in his Subway uniform. The message that night would change the course of his life. Who knew?

Ricky says he began to realize that he was focusing on himself and his business ventures rather than on God. “We reordered our priorities, and I began working less hours. That’s when a lot of good things came into our lives,” he says.

He and Niki developed a heart for missions. They went on mission trips to Moldova with College Street Baptists in 2000, 2001, and 2004. Last year, they went on two trips to Peru. Who knew?

Through these experiences, Ricky and Niki began to feel God was leading them to become International Service Corp volunteers through the International Mission Board.

“We’ve pretty much known since that first trip that at some point we’d be doing missions full time,” Ricky acknowledges.

And as soon as things began falling into place at their businesses, Niki was the first to urge, “It’s time to look into missions work.”

Their appointment to Zambia is for two years, but “we’re entering this, like it could be for the rest of our lives,” Ricky adds.

In October, they will begin managing a missionary guest house in Lusaka, where IMB workers come to rest and restock their supplies before heading back out into the bush. Who knew?

“God has blessed us so much,” Ricky explains. “What I have to do is go and tell other people about Jesus.”

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you – plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Who knew? God knew.

The younger brother of a friend. The person behind the counter at a restaurant. Someone who decides to attend a revival at the last minute. A fellow participant on a mission trip. Each day, as we interact with those who cross our paths, we need to be ever mindful that God is at work, and he may have special plans for their lives which will unfold – along the Way.