Thursday, just two days ago, we traveled the two hours (or so) down to the IMB headquarters in Richmond, VA from Mechanicsville, MD! En route back suddenly the truck seemed to handle a bit heavy, then lost a little power, and I realized that the water temperature was beginning to rise...just that quick! About the time that every idiot light on my dash lit up, I realised what happened - I threw a belt! A few things dawned on me in the process...here's the rest of the story:
Before we pulled out Thanksgiving week we had the realization that things may not always go as planned, the enemy was bound to attack at some point thinking that he can actually thwart God's greater plan. My challenge for my family, and myself, was to realize that when thing DO go awry its an opportunity to share The Gospel of Christ and/or the mission that He has given us to someone new! Regardless, HE gets the glory!!! Well, in the process of breaking down, we got to share our faith and mission with two truck stop employees, four customers, four "Good Samaritans", four Auto Zone employees, and one Sheriff's Deputy! One took our brochures and gave us ministry leads for potential support and two of them I believe heard The Gospel of Jesus for the first time! What an awesome blessing!!! Got to touch the lives of 15 people that we never would have met otherwise!!!
Another thing dawned on me in the process...the urgency for us to get to Africa!!! Since we broke down out of reach of a parts store it took us a couple hours to get back on the road. Too often in Africa, and yes, in Malawi where we are going to serve, that kind of mishap costs days or weeks of down time and hundreds of dollars! That fix once I returned to the car with parts (I replaced the tensioner assembly & belt) only took about three minutes! Too often on the ground over seas parts are readily available - the skilled labor is what lacks! We need to be there to make our brothers and sisters more effective for The Lord!!! Please help us press on!!!
