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…