There are few things I can guarantee in the ministry. But one thing I can guarantee you is THINGS WILL GO WRONG! Actually this isn’t surprising at all because life isn’t always going to be good experiences, but Satan especially loves to attack missionaries in this way.
Yes things are guaranteed to go wrong
Which is why we cannot be shocked when they do
And see the grace of God in those circumstances
A few weeks ago I was driving home from the Bible College when a large tractor trailer truck came around the corner. Vincentian roads are too small for these trucks usually so the thing to do is stop and pull over, allowing them to drive in the middle of the road. After stopping the passenger of the truck motioned for myself, and another car in front of me to come through, passing between the truck and the curb. Probably because I was too far forward already.
It took a little longer than expected to get through because the car in front of me had difficulty passing. By the I was passing the truck driver (thinking I already had gone through) was already moving, and scraped my car.
It wasn’t a serious accident, but still something bad enough to re-attach my bumper (which was going to come off) and get some body work done. Of course, though it wasn’t my fault I took the blame since the only thing in my defense was the truck passenger calling me up, which he wouldn’t admit to.
This was a frustrating situation, but the grace of God is seen in it as well
- I have a Christian friend who lived near where the accident happened, and was able to help temporarily fasten my bumper so it wouldn’t fall off
- The day after the accident, I took the car to a Christian mechanic who refastened my bumper, and did some body work for a good price
- And the money to pay for this repair job came from individuals paying me back for things brought in my Christmas barrel
This experience reminded me God is faithful to care for us in the hard situations. The problem is we sometimes don’t see Him at work because all our attention is on what frustrates us.
I was reminded of that again on Friday when my Macbook Pro suddenly stopped charging. I’m almost positive the problem is my charging cord stopped working properly since the laptop had been running off battery all morning.
Again being without my laptop is a frustrating experience, but God’s grace is seen in it as well
- I was able to buy a replacement charger on Saturday, and send it to my parents, who will mail it here
- While waiting on that, I have an older PC that does almost everything my Macbook can
- And a USB keyboard necessary to use the PC (some keys don’t work properly) came during December. Without that, my job would be a LOT harder
As long as we live on this sin-cursed earth, things are going to go wrong. But we can rejoice that even in those situations, God is providentially caring for us.
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