That's one thing that has been especially wonderful for me, down here. Taking the opportunities to "practice the presence of God" has been an experience that I've found invaluable. The same way Jesus was sitting beside me looking into the fire, the night before I left, he has been working side by side with me through my time here. He's right beside me helping as I lift, cut, grind, drill, hammer, organize, drive, and accomplish the countless other tasks. Working has never been so joyful! And he's with me when I rest! When I drink coconut milk directly from the fruit, when I wipe the sweat from my eyes, when I shake the hands of the Haitian workers, and when we smile at each other, when I come in to eat the dry goat meat and pumpkin soup that I just unknowingly threw a piece of ant-infested bread into, He's STILL there.
Oh, friends, His yoke IS easy and His burden IS light.
There is something else that happens every morning, after I wake up and begin to head off to work, that makes the heat of the day more bearable. I have been given the blessing of marveling before a breathtaking scene that is only seen on screens by most people:
Misted mountains in the distance with billowing clouds above. Spanning the expanse below from where I stand to the place the mountain begins is covered in lush, green foliage. (Yes, there are surely shades of other colors mixed within, but due to the lack of an adequate count of cone cells in my eyes, it is difficult for me to rightly explain them to you)... (but i'm sure there's green). Gracing these trees are wisps of a gentle haze that extends into the mountainous terrain.
Misted mountains in the distance with billowing clouds above. Spanning the expanse below from where I stand to the place the mountain begins is covered in lush, green foliage. (Yes, there are surely shades of other colors mixed within, but due to the lack of an adequate count of cone cells in my eyes, it is difficult for me to rightly explain them to you)... (but i'm sure there's green). Gracing these trees are wisps of a gentle haze that extends into the mountainous terrain.
It really is awe-inspiring from our hill-top view.
Kind of a side note... the sky here always looks SO HIGH from the clouds!! I love it. I love it. I love it. They would be classified under the cumulonimbus I believe (my favorite). So really, we have a nice assortment of stratus and cumulonimbus here depending on where you look. How lovely.
Mixed with all of that grand information, comes something truly amazing in itself...
Today, in the midst of loading the materials delivery truck, it suddenly stopped changing gears. It was stuck in neutral! We couldn't even turn the truck off (whaaaa???)! This was a problem because it is necessary that it moves not only to where the job site is, but also that it moves to different spots in the construction yard so we can load an assortment of materials. It halted our progress for quite some time as a number of capable individuals attempted to get it working again.
When this all started I went over and hopped up onto the cab, where Brent and Shayne Shaw were sitting, to see how it was going. After a silly confrontation in my head about whether to suggest prayer or not was over, I went ahead and asked if it'd been done. It had not. So, I climbed around to the side of the vehicle and said a quick prayer that God would fix this problem, unless he had something greater to show us by keeping it in an immobile state. After the prayer I slid into the cab and tried it again. A press on the clutch, numerous tugs and jerks on the stick, and... nothing.
Disheartened, I slid back out with a sigh. I started to think that praying was a silly suggestion. I thought that prayer never really amounts to anything like that. I recalled other times where my prayers weren't answered, and for a split second I started to lose my faith. No doubt the devil was throwing all he could at me to create the first fruits of apostasy in my heart. Such a thing could not be allowed. I remembered something a dear friend and brother in Christ once challenged me with when my faith was shaken more than ever before, "...Which shows greater faith, believing in something because you can see it, or believing in something even when you can't." Or something like that.
Anyway, with that thought I dismissed Satan and believed God.
Not long after, the big boss Tim Reinhard came over to see it. We still couldn't figure it out. So, Tim ended up contacting the driver who wasn't around at the moment and told him the problem. The driver said that it had never had that problem before and he didn't know what to do. Once I heard that, I looked up to the sky, once more, and remember audibly saying, "Okay, God..."
I went up into the cab one more time. I looked out the windshield and saw some guys talking. I was sure they'd see me, and I became frightened at what they'd think if they saw me praying in there. I became disgusted at myself for even contemplating such a thing. So, I put away my foolishness and prayed sincerely to God for his provision to fix whatever was wrong. The moment after I prayed I looked up, pressed my foot to the clutch, laid my hand to the stick shift, and what happened next... all I can describe it as is God swiftly moved my hand. The truck was in gear. The breath was taken out of me as I realized what had just happened. I called out the window with a stutter, "Sh-shayne!! I th-think I got it." He gave me a look of bewilderment as he asked, "What?". "Yeah, I think i got it in gear." He hurried up next to me and was shocked to see what had happened. "What did you do???" "I prayed!" I said. He responded, "Why didn't I think of that?!"
I dropped out of the cab, and it seemed like all eyes were on me. So, without hesitation I walked toward the others with my finger pointing up. We praised God.
I don't know if this seems super cool to anyone else, but it changed me. There are a lot of things in my life that I can place the label coincidence on, but not this one. So much time was spent, by much more experienced and capable men than I, trying to find a way to "degaje," which is "make it work" in Creole (a popular phrase down here), and I didn't do anything different than them! I simply placed my hand on the stick, and it immediately went into place. And so, I am grateful to God for honoring my prayers and the prayers of all of you back home who have asked that He be glorified through me.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I have typed this last bit.
I have a good Father.
He loves me.
He loves to bless me.
I love to bless Him.
Glory to God.
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