We were in Kilagi for our Sabbath. We decided to wake up in the morning and head to the airport since there was a coffee shop with good food and good Internet(the concern of all Racers). I got up with 3 other of my teammates and grabbed boda-bodas to take to the airport. A boda-boda is basically just a motobike of some sort, either a moped or a dirtbike, with room for only one other person they’re a cheap mode of transportation. As I climbed on, Scott one of our squad leaders, made sure to say “We all stay together”, they seemed to understand that. However since I was the first person on th boda my driver suddenly takes off. I don’t see anyone from my team anywhere close.
“Father, let me get there safe.”
It’s the only prayer I can think. I don’t know exactly where I’m going. 3 minutes later when we pull up to the airport, I think how foolish I was to worry. Sily American girl, worried about everything.
We spend a few hours at the airport then decide to move on to our next place. The SportsView Hotel. A place with a pool, food, Internet and most importantly a shower. Again we board bodas and again they are told to all stay together. My boda driver was still getting paid for the girl he had just dropped off at the airport when the others pulled away. I told myself not to worry. I got to my destination safe the last time. I’d get there safe this time. We start going and I take this time to just drink in what surrounds me. Beautiful Rwanda, the busy bustling life, loving Africa. After about 10 minutes I wonder why we haven’t arrived at SportsView yet. I knew it was close by, maybe I was just mistaken, I had only been there once. Another 10 minutes and I just figure we have taken another way to get there. 30 minutes later when we pass by the mall that is an hour away from the house we stay at when we are in Kilgai I realize that my driver has no idea where The SportsView Hotel is. The option to worry and panic is there. I am a young, pretty, white American girl in a foreign country. I don’t know where anything is, I don’t have a single phone number. The only name I have is the SportsView Hotel. As we are zooming by cars I relaize that my life is in this mans hands. Any wrong move, any auto driver that doesn’t pay attention, and my life ends.
“Your life is in my hands.”
He chides me so softly. He controls my fate. He, on a daily, weekly, monthly, basis gets me where I need to go. He’s kept me safe. He protected us in Costa Rica when our house was broken into. He had a hand on us when we maneuvered one of the most dangerous ares of Honduras. He held me close when I was sick in Thailand and no one could tell me what I had. He guided every tuk-tuk driver I had in Cambodia. He has held my life in His hands every flight, every car, truck, tuk-tuk, boda-boda, van ride.
My driver eventually pulls into a random hotel just hoping this is the one I mean. I say no and repeat the name of the hotel. Less than five minutes later we pull up to the Milles Collines. The same hotel that Paul Rusesabagina sheltered 1,268 Tutsi and Hutu refugees during the 1994 genocide(And the movie Hotel Rwanda was based off of.). I was looking at a piece of history. I sat shocked on my boda. As my driver drove through the gates to find someone who could direct us, I couldn’t believe His goodness. It was something so small. Something not many people would be as ecstatic about. What was supposed to be a quick drive through the sity, which turned into a long lost drive through the city ended up with my Father reminding me that He loves me in the smallest ways.
We find a couple of guys who speak wonderful English and they direct my boda driver to the hotel.
“Where are you trying to go?”
“The SportsView Hotel.”
“Oh, that is very far away.”
“Yeah, I thought so.”
“By the airport.”
“Yeah, we just came from there.”
And after a 45 minutes round trip, we finally pull up to the right hotel. I pay my driver and walk in to the hotel.
“I lean not on my own understanding. My life is in the hands of the Maker of heaven.
I give it all to you God, trusting that you’ve made something beautiful out of me.”
