As I contemplate that verse I can't help but think about the seemingly ordinary man who helped us buy tickets at the bus station the other day.
Steven, Matt, Emily and I went to down town Beira (there are 3 or 4 six story buildings there, but never the less its down town) Mozambique to coordinate travel to our 2nd country. (I know… I kind of jumped to the end, but this was kind of crazy). Upon arriving at the bus station after taking an over stuffed chappa (taxi bus) for 20 mets/ $0.60 and walking a little ways by shoe vendors, donut shops (its smelt like a donut shop anyway) and school kids taking a break at a local tienda (store)- we finally came up to the bus station, which would have been easy to miss without directions. Right before entering Steven said a quick prayer- Lord please bring us an english speaker.
What does the Lord do? Of course… shortly after it was clear that the woman at the desk (literally there was only a desk in the office and a refrigerator, a table with rotting food on it, a safe for the $ made that day and a row of chairs with dirty mattresses piled on the) didn't speak english- in walked a Mozambiquean man without anything in his hands. Right away he asked if we spoke english? And asked if he could help us. He was learning english and wanted to practice with us. After a bit of dialogue he asked if we were Americans. We all were, so we said yes. His response, "O good! I love Americans!" I immediately thought… who is this guy? Thats not a phrase I hear often. He then proceeded to ask us about America and told us that he wished to go sometime. I remember thinking, why is he dressed in all white? I didn't bring it up but thought it was kind of interesting.
He helped us out until we got what we needed and then we left to go to the bank. Have you ever pulled out $2,000 usd at an atm in a 3rd world country (60,000 mets/ 12 transactions)? Its hard to keep it descreate. Anyway the Lord showed up again… after maxing out all the cards we brought with us… we realized that we needed more cards (oops!) But guess who was thinking ahead- The LORD 🙂 At that time 2 of our teams were coming out of a near by grocery story – perfect timing/ had no idea they were going to be there. We had 4 more cards to max out. Yay! Now we had all the $$$$$$$.
Back to the bus station we went. The man who was helping us before was no longer there. But this time there was a lady dressed in white and she spoke english too! Wow, this keeps happening. After 4 hours at this station we finally had 34 of our 48 tickets bought (the remaining 14 were picked up the following day because Mozambiquans take a lunch siesta break between 12-2 pm. At this point we were hungry…)
It was about that time that Steven, Matt or Em, said… was that guy that helped us at the bus stations wearing all white? I realized that God pointed that out to me while he was sitting in front of us. We then began to ponder… Where did he come from? Where was he going? He didn't actually have anything in his hands. Was he? Could he have been? Was he an angel?
I don't know… Steven prayed and he just showed up. Looked relatively normal besides the all white attire and no luggage. He had a huge heart for Americans. Didn't get to asking his name, where he was from/ what he was doing there. He wasn't anywhere to be found once we got the $$. The only languages he spoke were Portuguese, english and german (Matt's 2nd language).
CRAZY!
Something I am learning in this season is that I don't have to make things happen. I have to do what the Lord puts on my heart to do, but its not expected of me to do the impossible. He doesn't expect me to know how to get bus tickets in 3rd world nations to places I've never been, or know the language, or know the right answers, or what to talk about at the next session. Because He's got it! Over and over… let me do it- I hear Him whisper in my ear. And every time I hand over the reigns… He does it. I love it. I am so thankfully- especially since I've never squad led before. So of course I'm looking to Him- I sit in His presence and ask, "What's next?" How do you want to love PSquad? And He responds- "I'll do it."
