Acoustic “tango” music floats through the air. The Uruguan (our friend from Uraguay) sits on a turned over, white bucket, rests his guitar on his crossed legs and effortless picks out a melody. A dread escapes from his pony tail. He quickly pushes is behind his ear. I close my eyes and picture God directing His orchestra. He is also the great composer. His music is without flaw…perfect in everyway…
Today, His notes were a blessing in everyway. At 4:00am we arrived at our hostel in downtown Buenos Aires. After catching a few hours of sleep, we head out for “breakfast” around 1pm. Our mission for the week while in Buenos Aires: set-up for future World Racers – find a church/ministry/lodging/etc. Basically, there is absolutely nothing planned for the week. In other words, God is composing a new song as we go. He is serenading us with His amazing melodies and harmonies.
“Perdoname, Senora,” I lean across the table trying to get a lady’s attention. She looks up from her stack of papers, “Si”. “Could you direct us to a park nearby?” Our plan: find a relaxing park, pray, seek the Lord and His direction for the week. Little did we know that the music had already started. Enter, Ana Maria. She would become the melody of the day.
After talking for a while, she announced that it was her birthday today. Not just any birthday, but her 50th! And she was all alone. Her husband is in Spain for a few days and all her friends are busy. At that moment she adopted us and we adopted her. The music begins to crescendo…
After treating her to lunch, she heads out with us (now playing hooking from work) to help us find a map of Buenos Aires and the subway system. We stop at a few roadside stands – nothing. She walks us into a random bookstore. The first book I see,
The Purpose Driven Life (in Spanish of course). We find ourselves in a Christian bookstore! After talking with the cashiers, we get the name and number of “Iglesia del Centro” – an evangelical church in the area. We know that this is a huge gift from God because evangelical Christians, let alone Christians, are few and far between in this city.
Then some harmony is thrown in…the church has a ‘soup kitchen’ connected to it and volunteers (and consumers!) are always welcome. A smile comes to my face. Earlier that morning, as a team, we had discussed that it was a mutual desire to search out a local soup kitchen/homeless shelter. God answered with absolutely no searching on our part needed.
We find a map and Ana Maria invites us to coffee so that she can give us a “tour” of the city. “Happy Birthday to you…”, we chime in as the waitress surprises her with an ice cream cake. Shawna pulls out some flowers. Her eyes light up and her mouth about drops to the floor. Tears well up in her eyes as she makes her way around the table, blessing each of us with a hug and kiss on the cheek.
After a few hours of ‘her being our mom and us being her kids’, we go our separate ways. To meet up again Monday night for supper. God heard our prayers and Ana Maria’s prayers. And He beautifully interwove our individual harmonies…the result – a mutual blessing to all involved…a song that will always be remembered as a day ‘orchestrated by the grand composer’.
All we could do was worship. On the roof of our hostel, surrounded by laundry and covered by the night sky, we gave thanks. The song was not yet over for the day. His song drew an Argentinean, Uruguan, Slovakian and a New Zealander…The spirit of the song is alive in everyone’s heart – even if they do not recognize it. It pulls on the strings of hope and desire for something more.
God loves Buenos Aires. I’m excited to “hear” more of His heart for this incredible city…
