That Time I Went to Africa

           Today I started a trip that I've been wanting to take for a long time. I am currently on the Horne of Africa, in Turkana. Turkana right in the middle of the worst drought in the current world, and possibly of all time. So we leave this morning at "exactly five in the morning", which really meant that we left around 10 A.M. The first of our trouble started right after we entered Turkana county. The brakes went out. We coasted to a stop and started investigating. The rough roads were knocking us around so badly that it actually cut our brake line. No big deal right? We continue on, making sure that we are traveling slow enough that we can gear down and coast to a stop pretty quickly. So my friends in the car are talking in Kalinjin, so I am kind of zoned out. I kept thinking that I was hearing a flapping noise, but I ignored it as road noise. The flapping continued so I told the driver to pull over again. Problem number two, we had a blow out. The road was actually so rough that we didn't even notice for roughly a quarter mile. Well this is no big deal. I tend to be pretty rough on tires myself and am no stranger to changing a tire. I had even changed one in Africa before. I grab the tool to lower the spare and get to work. Problem number three, the tool that came with the pickup to lower the spare wasn't strong enough to even budge the tire. So at this point in our journey, we are stuck in the middle of the desert, with the nearest town roughly two hours driving time away. Now something that I've been working on pretty hard, lately, is my patience. Honestly at this point, I was getting more than a little upset. Then my friend told me, "Jake, now you have come to Africa, and you are now a missionary." I busted out laughing. It seemed that with one sentence, all of the stress flew out the window. That's when I sat down and just started taking everything in. This is Africa, and I am a missionary. Almost nothing is going to happen perfectly here. In fact, pretty much anything that I will get accomplished is going to be a result of starting out with a really good plan, then throwing that away and improvising until it's finished. Once I realized how absolutely helpless I am, and also knowing that it's perfectly fine that way, I got to see that God is taking care of me. We were sitting there and I looked toward the sun.

 

          I know that it might be kind of corny to say I felt God's presence in a sunset, but I'm a fan of a good sunset. To me it was just my Father telling me that he is going to test me to make sure that I can completely rely on him. So that's what I did. We sat there for a few hours joking around and just taking in the beautiful desert. Finaly a World Vision vehicle drove by and let us borrow their tools. We got back on the road and made it to the nearest town, Loki-something (I can't remember).

          So, now I was a little upset that we didn't make it to Lodwar, problem number four. Then one of the most amazing things ever happened. It rained. Now to be fair, this part of Turkana does get some rain from time to time, the drought is not over or anything like that. Also, it only sprinkled a very small amount for about 30 seconds, but I got to experience rain in Turkana. It probably had no effect on the land here, and it sure didn't give any drinking water, I think that those few drops of water were meant for me. Call it reassurance, or a sign, or whatever, but I know that I'm gonna remember that small amount of water for the rest of my life.



Answers

         To the man who says, "God doesn't listen", I would say, "Hang on a minute". Maybe He doesn't give a yes or no answer, maybe He doesn't give you exactly what you want, and maybe He doesn't even answer the question that you asked. He does answer though. I saw something the other day that said, "If you keep waiting for God to answer you, maybe you should stop only listening for 'yes'." Recently, I've been asking for answers and kept getting nothing. Honestly, I was asking for selfish things that are back home, but they were things that I felt were important. Most people will agree with me that when you are asking for something that seems important to you, and you feel that God isn't answering you, it can be frustrating. I was frustrated. James tells us to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." (James 1:2-5). I've been ignoring James the past few days. I had absolutely no joy. I kept praying and asking for these things, and was wondering why I was getting no answer. Then God answered. He didn't say "yes" or "no". He didn't not even give me an answer for what I had been praying for. He one upped me. Today God gave Suzy Peacock clean water that has no disease in it. Today God gave us food that we can take to Turkana, Mt. Elgon, and many other places. Today God gave our high school an electronic library that we've been working on for months. In a way I feel that the Lord did answer me. He said, "Come on man. You've got a lot of more important things to do. What would you rather have? Food, water, and education for these kids, or your selfish stuff?" Basically, I was only listening for the answer that I wanted, so God showed me something that I couldn't ignore. Jesus tells us, "Ask and you shall receive" (Luke 11:10). Notice, He doesn't say, "Ask and you shall get whatever you want. I hear that new F-150 is looking pretty good." Now I'm not saying that God won't give us the things that we want. I'm not even saying that we shouldn't ask for these things, but I do believe that we have to have an understand that we might not always get the answer that we want.