When we got to the national park, we walked up to the visitor's desk and filled out the required paperwork to enter the park. While we were waiting for people to use the restaurant, and sign in to the park, Johnny realized he didn't have his wallet. He searched his entire bag, knowing that he had it went we left YWAM. Johnny had been pick-pocketed on the bus. No one had realized. Tess had said she caught someone on the bus rummaging through Travis' bag which was at her feet, but luckily caught them before they had taken anything.
Johnny called someone back at the base to email a family member to cancel all his credit cards and all that fun stuff. He handled it rather well, content with a righteous anger for the crime. Tess joined in on the righteous anger as well.
As we made our way into the forest, we kept talking about it, mentally retracing Johnny's steps and trying to figure out how know one saw. In reenacting the crime, Tess hit Johnny's backpack and his wallet fell out. What?! Johnny had searched his whole bag and didn't find it. It was like it fell out of the sky. Turns out, it was wedged between his frisbee and his bag in the outer portion of his bag. So, Johnny got on the phone again to cancel the email to cancel his cards. The email hadn't been sent yet. Perfect timing!
So the whole day, we tried to figure out how the mystery of Johnny's wallet. It had "disappeared" from a zippered compartment in has bag and then "reappeared" falling out of "nowhere." It remained an unsolved mystery.
That night at dinner, the plot thickened.
When we were all trying to figure out what was owed for the bill, Johnny pulled out his wallet to pay his portion. It was then he realized that all his cash was gone out of his wallet. So his wallet HAD been stolen!
We conjectured that someone did in fact pick pocket him on the bus, but only wanted the cash. So, they took the cash and put his wallet back in his bag. CRAZY!!
The pick pocket returned the most hassle-laden pieces of a stolen wallet: credit cards, IDs, etc.! Cash is easy to replace, and it wasn't a huge amount any ways. MIND BLOWN!
Praise God for putting it on that pick pocket's heart to return Johnny's wallet to him!
At first, I felt a bit guilty that I had been the one talking to Johnny for a majority of the bus ride and I should have been the one to see if someone was robbing him. But, then God told me to get over myself. This was much bigger than me and this was about something more than if I could catch a thief. It is not my responsibility to keep my fellow Racers safe; it's not even my responsibility to keep my team safe. I'm not saying I will intentionally put my team in danger's way, but I have to be content with the fact that God is our ultimate protector. I have to be able to accept everything that happens to them. It's God's will. And God's will is so much larger and grander and more intricate than I could ever imagine [Isaiah 55:8-9].
My own protection would only get in the way. I would try to protect them from EVERYTHING – possibly even the good and the bad [who I am to judge what is good, anyways?]. God is the perfect protector and will only let things get to us that are for our good [Romans 8:28]. And if God brings us to it, He will bring us through it [1 Corinthians 10:13]. He is the sustainer of our souls. Every day, I choose to trust Him with our lives and trust in His perfect orchestration. I am willing to be used by Him and to allow the Spirit to flow through me; but I find my strength in Him alone, not my own stength [Philippians 4:13].
"In one sense, we’ll never know how many times God actually protected us."
"In the center of a hurricane there is absolute peace and quiet. There is no safer place than in the center of the will of God." – Corrie ten Boom
