One of my last nights I was in Mozambique, we were waiting for a team to come and join us at Beacon of Hope, the ministry site I was staying at all month. We got a call from the team and found out that the police pulled them over, and they would be a little late. Soon after that, we found out that the police were trying to get a bribe from them before they would let them go, so it was going to be even longer. When the team wouldn’t pay, the police tried to steal their passports, and when they weren’t able to succeed at that, they took the whole team down to the police station. I wrote the vast majority of this blog post when the 15 of us at Beacon of Hope didn’t really know what was going on, and what was going to happen to our fellow squad mates.
Most people’s first emotions were probably along the lines of panic, fear, sense of hopelessness, sadness. Mine is frustration, complete and utter frustration. Just sitting and not being able to help them. To know that chances are that they are probably about to experience the worst night of their lives, and I won’t be able to do anything about it. I am a fixer, down to my very last fiber, I am a fixer. The fact that I couldn’t do anything made me go a little haywire. I couldn’t do anything to help my fellow racers out of jail, so I broke down mentally. Everyone around me was praying and worshiping, while my stare was fixated at a crack in the cement floor. I was useless in that moment.
I started thinking about everyone who was at the police station picturing them in my minds: Kyle then Jordan, Chenea’ was next and then Sarah. When I started thinking about Sarah, I remembered some advice she gave me once after training camp. I was going through some hard times, and she asked me, “Well, Scott, have your prayed yet?” I guiltfuly replied, “No.” “Well then go pray dummy!” she responded. I once again was filled with guilt, and knew that if Sarah knew I hadn’t prayed yet about what was going on, she would give me the same advice, “Go pray dummy!” Brilliant advice if you were to ask me.
So I prayed. I then got scripture and shared with everyone and prayed some more. I then pulled Jason aside and prayed for him, knowing that it must be especially hard for him with his brother being in the group going to jail. I prayed for peace, knowing that God was working in the situation for us, and then peace came. I prayed that fears would be thrown out, because the Lord has his protection over us, and then fear left. I prayed that no one would feel sadness but instead happiness, because the Lord’s plan was being done, then sadness left and happiness took its place.
How great is our God! Ask and you shall receive, and received I did tonight. Sometimes, when you are put in a situation that you cannot fix, you still look for a solution. But the truth is, so many times in life there nothing you can do about it. But you are not in this alone, we have a Creator who is always watching over us, and there is no problem that he can’t fix. I am now at peace knowing that God is fixing the situation, and that I will see my brothers and sisters when it is time to see them.
Everything ended working out fine for my fellow squad mates. They got to Beacon of Hope just fine, just very tired from being delayed by the police for so long. The US embassy is doing everything they can to fire all of the policemen who tried to get some bride money. Please be praying for Gods justice here!.
