When Promises Become Very Precious (continued)

This is a continuation of my previous blog telling of my time in Mexico and the challenges that come with it…

After meeting with my kids, Carlos and Juan, at the mall for something of a discipleship group, we met up with Julie and Cynthia and walked around with them to do some browsing before heading home. I asked them if they needed rides home and they accepted. I didn’t actually take them home as I had planned, but dropped them off on the street somewhere near their houses (I suppose) when they jumped out of the back of Willy and said thank you, as is the custom in Mexico.

Julie and I went on to her house for a few minutes and then decided to go back out to Costco to get a membership there. Costco is very similar to Sam’s Club, but better, at least where we are in Mexico. On our way to Costco on a busy street at night, Willy began having issues. He started getting a bit jerky and then completely shut down. I pulled off to the side of the road (there is no actual side of the road, it was more like halfway in the right lane and halfway in a small parking lot) and tried to get him started up again. I told Julie that I thought we were out of gas, so when Willy started I knew we had very limited time to get to a gas station. As we started going, Willy stalled for a moment and then violently jerked forward causing me to seriously wonder about things, but then he stabilized enough to drive for a while. We bypassed Costco in search of a gas station and I was praying along the way that we would simply get there. We, very thankfully, got to the gas station without much trouble. It was there that I realized that without my wallet I, once again, couldn’t pay for the gas. I kindly asked Julie if she would pay for some gas and she graciously agreed. I love how God provides so many ways for His people. After getting gas, Willy seemed to be fine for about a minute and then he went dead on the side of some back road. I tried to get him started again, but he wasn’t about to move. A very nice Mexican guy saw us and stopped to assist us, helped me push Willy to try to jump start him, and even took the battery out of his truck and put it in Willy to make sure it wasn’t the battery. It wasn’t. God brings people along to help us completely unexpectedly. Even though he didn't fix the truck for us, it was a very good thing to know that we couldn't jump start Willy and the problem wasn't that battery. That was very useful later.

We eventually had to call Byron to come pick us up and take us home. Byron is very generous with his time and is a great partner in ministry. We never made it to Costco. The next day I rode around with Bryce and Noreen to find a tow service and we finally found one and got Willy towed to my mechanic friend downtown. Since I had no money, Bryce and Noreen had to pay the tow guy. I am very thankful to have friends like these working in the ministry with me.

My mechanic, Luis, spent a day looking for the problem and decided it was the fuel pump. A fuel pump for a 1990 Ford Ranger is not all that easy to come by in the Yucatan, but thankfully Luis was able to find one somewhere and have it sent. I got Willy back a day or two later and he made it through the weekend without any issues. The following week, I got up to go to school one morning and when I went out to Willy, he wouldn’t start. It was the exact same problem. I was thankful to still be able to catch a ride with Byron, but was getting a little frustrated with Willy. I was also feeling the onset of a cold that was coming fast and hard. After school, I called to have Willy towed again (the third time in a few days, mind you) back to Luis to see what he could do about the troublesome fuel pump. Again, I had to borrow money to pay for the tow.

After a day of getting sicker and sicker, I got a call from Luis saying that he had rigged the wiring to the fuel pump and it should work fine from then on. I was so thankful to be able to go get Willy back. I love watching problems in life keep coming up and wondering how God is going to work them out. A song comes to mind…

“Keep ‘em comin’ these lines on the road
Keep me responsible be it a light or a heavy load
Keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
I’ll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes.”

~Derek Webb

His promises to always take care of me are precious to me, especially when things seem to be going wrong. It is a tremendous feeling to know that He is sovereign and is working things out for our good. We can delight in Him and trust in Him, rather than in our own understanding of things. We are not called to figure things out in this world, but to trust Him and His goodness, and He will direct our paths.

More in another blog to come…

When Promises Become Very Precious--Part 1

The last couple of weeks have certainly been trying. I have been trying to deal with many things all at once and sometimes I have felt a bit overwhelmed. But through it all, it is a beautiful thing to be able to see God’s hand in my life and rest in the fact that He is good and that He loves me.

Of course, I know that many lives are much tougher than mine and people are presently experiencing things far worse than I have the last 2 weeks. That is not the point. God tests us all in different ways and we learn to trust Him far more deeply because of it.

A couple Sundays ago I was out to eat for dinner with some friends of Julie who were visiting from the States. We enjoyed a great meal at one of my favorite restaurants, Los Trompos, and then the next morning Julie and I took them to the airport at 5am. That morning I made a quick search for my wallet but didn’t see it, but didn’t worry too much about it. Thinking that it must be Willy, my truck, or at Julie’s house, I went about my day. I looked for it that afternoon and even went back to Los Trompos in hopes that somebody might have spotted it and, out of the kindness of their heart, turned it in to the management who was storing it in a secure vault in the back room. I sometimes forget that I am in Mexico and things don’t work that way here. Well, the wallet never showed up. I looked all over, but still haven’t found it two weeks later. There wasn’t a lot of money in it, but my driver’s license and ATM debit card (my only way to withdraw money here) were, among other things that I use often. I have lost my wallet before, but never in a foreign country.

A couple days later, I was driving to Julie’s house to take her home after school and to eat some lunch before meeting with some kids from school at the mall. We have just begun something of a discipleship meeting with some of them and it is going great so far. As we arrived at Julie's house, we noticed that there was somebody parked in one of the two reserved spots in front of the house. This is an ongoing problem here, so I was going to tell the guy to move it, but as I saw him sitting in his car with his little girls, I didn’t have the heart. So I asked him if he was going to be there long and he assured me that he wasn’t, so I just parked down the street a bit and then went in to eat some lunch. Just as we were about to leave to meet with the kids, my phone rang and a friend was telling me that I needed to go out front because my truck was being towed. What! Why is Willy being towed? Well, I had parked on a yellow line, apparently, and the guy already had Willy up on his back wheels. I tried to argue with the guy that I am a stupid gringo and didn’t know much of the local rules, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He had to tow it back to the office. I continued to argue to no avail, and he finally offered us a ride in his big truck to the yard where they take towed vehicles. We were going to be very late meeting the kids at the mall.

On the way to the office, I was a bit nervous because Willy may not be entirely legal at this point, which means that they might take him from me. I had Isaiah 41:10 running through my head as I was trying to think of how to say what I might need to say in Spanish and how I was going to have to be the stupid gringo again. As we arrived, I looked over to the truck driver to thank him and I heard a thud on the ground to my right. I looked over and Julie had fallen right out of the truck when she opened the door to get out. It must have hurt since it is a very tall truck and the ground is nothing but rocks and dirt. I helped her up and she dusted herself off on the way to talk to the lady who was waiting for us. She asked for all of the information on Willy which I had to walk to the other end of the lot to get. By the time I returned with the paperwork, I was already pouring sweat from the heat and from being nervous. I gave the lady all of stuff and she asked where the legal permit was and my license. Of course, I didn’t have my license because my wallet was gone and I didn’t have a legal permit because the one I had was expired. After a good bit of discussion and several phone calls, she finally told us to go make some copies. That is always an integral part of doing any kind of business here in Mexico. For some reason, you have to go make copies of something somewhere else. So we made the copies and then she sent us across the street to go pay. Once again, not having my wallet meant I had no money and no way to get any. Thankfully, Julie offered to pay and it was around $40. At this point, we returned with a paid receipt, but I still didn’t know if they were going to let me take Willy. Nervously I gave the lady the receipt and she gave me all my papers and told me to go get my truck. I was so thankful! Thank you, Lord! We walked the length of the lot where an officer was waiting for us. His job in life is to use black ink paper and white tape to pull VIN numbers off of the vehicles that come in and out of the lot. Unfortunately, this is very difficult on American-made vehicles and so it took him another 20 minutes to finally get it done while we stood there talking and sweating.

We were very late meeting the kids at the mall, but the time with them was truly amazing. God is using us to challenge them and show them the love of Christ. I am so thankful for the time with them every week. Please be praying for us as we meet them every Tuesday afternoon. Julie meets with a girl named Cynthia and I meet with two great (but very lost) guys named Carlos and Juan. It is such a blessing to be able to tell them about frustrations in life such as a lost wallet and almost lost truck, but not be complaining about it. We have a hope and joy that does not depend on our circumstances, but is rooted in the promises of God to always take care of us. The frustrations, in fact, were only just beginning at this point (more in my next blogs), but the promises that Jesus bought for us on the cross are very precious to me and a source of great joy and satisfaction.

I am so thankful for Luke 12 where Jesus tells his disciples to not be anxious about anything. That passage contains everything we need to know to trust God most fully and be satisfied in all that He promises to be for us.

More in another blog another time…