One afternoon we headed to a community with Pastor Antonio for some door-to-door evangelism. We picked up some members of the church in Bethel who help us, then went to the community with our Bibles, waterbottles, and not much else.
We knocked on doors and had conversations with mostly young adults or teenagers, prayed for them, then met back at the truck as a whole group.
It was immediately apparent that we were in no rush to leave, but not immediately apparent why. We took turns sitting on a horse (horse and cart is pretty common here), walked to a nearby soccer court and took some shots on net with an accumulated crowd, and chatted amongst ourselves until they told us to get into the truck to leave.
We were pulling away and waving one last ‘adios’ to the locals when the truck lurched to a stop, sending us falling off our sideways/inward-facing benches (right in front of the watching locals). A few attempts to restart the truck failed, then we were told to get out again. We were a 45 minute drive from home, and it was about 4:30.
We stood around, sat around, talked about being hungry, talked about being thirsty.
Then some kids got my attention. One girl told me they wanted to play. The first game that popped into my head was one I’d never played before, but named in Spanish, “Corazon de la Pina”. So we started off with that one.
We ran around for 2.5 hours, at some points with about 2 dozen kids, jumping, screaming, tickling and having fun. They showed me a slew of games (mostly variations of tag), my favourite being a singing version of spin the bottle. Although of course I didn’t like how a passerby might understandably have thought me to be playing traditional spin the bottle with 2 dozen children! The bottle is spun and points to whoever will be next to sing a solo.
The cutest were 3 boys about 7 years old, who followed me off-and-on for 2 hours, running and tickling me. I chased them and they chased me – but I won every time!
At 7:00 our truck was finally fixed, the sun was way down, and we were hungry! We rode back in darkness, hoping the truck would make it all the way back, which it did!
The moral: peace.
When trucks break down, peace says, “Okay then, the truck has broken down. Let’s find something else to do, and we’ll get back at some point!”
What is amazing is that peace is a gift from God.
Jesus said, “I am leaving you with a gift?peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don?t be troubled or afraid.”
John 14:27
Situations happen that compromise our intended schedule. Maybe they put us in danger, maybe they just push dinner back a few hours.
When we stop and acknowledge that God is in control, that peace comes in and our whole perspective is changed.
The awesome memories I have of playing with those kids wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for the truck breaking down.
