Reflection 2: God is in the details.

This is a photo of the Emerging Leaders nearing the end of our trip... We were separated into two teams during the work portion of the trip and so we were pretty much not in communication with each other. Getting to pray specifically for each other during that time was an awesome experience of relying solely upon the Lord and waiting for Him to work, specifically in regards to health of two of the guys on the mountain...

One story I wanted to share about God being involved in the details, involves this beauty above. This van and I are good friends at this point! We have spent many hours together... on some pretty bumpy roads, to say the least. We would ride out in the mornings and come back into a more established city in the later afternoons, in order to not be driving on some scary roads in the dark. One afternoon, we were setting out to leave from the work area and we had to gather our 7 team members. Well, 4 of us were on a back road and we couldn't find the other 3 team members. As we were driving on this back road, we came upon a group of men driving a tractor pulling a trailer of manure (a lot of manure) over this land bridge. As they were coming over, the trailer fell off the side, still connected to the tractor, and blocking us from passing.

So we were stuck... our van couldn't pass the tractor/trailer of manure and there was no other way out. This was at 4:30 pm... the time we always left... and our team was separated and without cell phone service. So... for the next 45 minutes or so we watched about 15 men problem solve as to how to get the trailer to move. Lets just say, there were MANY failed efforts at moving this thing, and for the 4 Americans watching and helping as we could... it wasn't looking promising at all. At this point, I'm thinking about what staying in the village that night would look like and started rationing food which we ate most of typically on the drive back everyday. It is one of those moments where you just don't have control at all and have to just wait... (I'm not good at that).

At about 5:15, Andrew and I decide we should go look for the rest of our team on foot. So we grab water and things... setting out to just go look for them. Also note, these villages are pretty large with hills and things that could create a lot of confusion. Anyways... by 5:30 we have a plan and walk away from the tractor/trailer situation kind of beat down by what the results of staying overnight could bring. They had made such little progress in the last hour or so that it just wasn't looking good.

As we walk away at 5:30... I just start praying out loud about the situation, asking that God would give them wisdom and help them work together to move the trailer. Then it just comes out of my mouth, and I say, "Dad, 15 minutes. 15 minutes. I just ask that you would move that trailer in the next 15 minutes." I am thinking in my head at that point... that is a pretty bold prayer to pray because there is NO WAY that is gonna happen.

Andrew and I keep walking and find our friends at 5:40... another ANSWER because that could have been a real dilemma. So we gather together and start walking back and I look at my watch and turn to Andrew and say, "Only 5 minutes left...", to which I am still really not thinking anything will happen.

As we are walking back to the van and telling them everything going on and the fear of either driving back in the dark or the unknowns of staying in the village overnight, we come over this little hill right at 5:45 (15 minutes after the prayer)... As we came over this hill we could see the van and the tractor/trailer and IT WAS PULLING AWAY! Exactly, and I mean exactly, 15 minutes after I prayed the thing was driving away. I was seriously in shock and started jumping up and down in excitement at the answer to prayer. We ran over to the van and learned they had figured out what to do and had made it happen in those 15 minutes we were away!

I mean... I prayed specifically for 15 minutes. We prayed specifically that they would work together and move that tractor/trailer. We prayed specifically that we would make it home that night before a certain time. We prayed that we would find and gather back with our friends. We prayed for our friends on the mountain that they would be healed of altitude sickness. We prayed specifically for friendships to be found.... And ALL OF THESE WERE ANSWERED. I mean to crazy specifics.

Our Dad cares specifically about us and meets our needs... He is in the details my friends and you can trust Him today to work out those details.