While you were watching the Super Bowl…

Hey everyone, thanks for praying for us :)  This is a verse that’s stuck in my head right now, and I’ll tell you why.

 

Psalm 139:5

You hem me in—behind and before;
       you have laid your hand upon me.

 

Church in Brasil is traditionally in the evening, which seems to make Sunday, our day of rest, just a little bit longer :)  What a lovely day—sleeping in, reading in a hammock, swimming, e-mail, early dinner and then church :)  On our way home from church this evening, we drove out of the city, with lights and skyscrapers, Sam’s club and stoplights…we drove on the highway from Natal to almost Macaiba, and then turned onto the last stretch of road—several miles of dirt road in the dark, lined with bushes, walls and barbed wire to mark farm boundaries.  Brian and I were riding in the back with Sarina in her carseat.  Stefanie (8  months pregnant) was driving and Joel (with his broken arm in a cast) was riding in the front—we were totally enjoying ourselves talking loudly (to be heard over the noise of driving on the equivalent of a washboard) about Bri & I’s second experience in a church in Brasil, excited about the little bed that someone in the church gave to our team for one of the kids, remembering who at church we’d already met, etc… 

 

And then we see “there’s a tree in the middle of the road”.  Okay, not really a tree, more like some huge thorny masses of branches blocking the road—there’s a wall and fence on the right of the road, and a wall to our left, and these thorny branches (with barbed wire accents) did not fall off a tree or off a truck.  If we were on a motorcycle, we could probably have squeezed thru on the left, but those thorns did not look friendly.  And we weren’t riding a motorcycle.  We were a pregnant woman, a man with a broken arm, two american gringos and a 2 year old in a van.  In a potential trap!  The neighborhood we live in is poor.  People on drugs do irrational and stupid things to get more drugs.  We even have a wall with barbed wire and 2 gates and don’t leave our home unattended (every week someone takes a turn staying home from church and the neighborhood at large knows that someone is always at our home).

 

So, what are our options?

 

A.  Drive the van thru where maybe the motorcycle could have fit and royally scratch up the car (these are not blackberry thorns people, these are several inches long each).

B.  Joel & Brian get out and move the stuff (somebody put it there, somebody can move it).

C.  Sit and talk about it.

D.  Wait for another vehicle to arrive for safety in numbers.

E.  All of the above.

 

First, we talked about it, then another car and a motorcycle arrived, then Joel & Brian went and moved it, then we drove thru on the left.  Everything happened all at once.  Not something you really plan for in your day, but there it is, and what’s the best thing?  We’re SO THANKFUL more people showed up (although I was wondering if they were the “bad guys” or just neighbors also trying to get thru).  Anyway, then not even 2 tenths of a mile down the road, the Police Officer who also lives in our neighborhood was just driving into work—we waved him down and he went to pick up another officer and then to go check things out.  Coincidental timing?  I think not!!!

 

Just so YOU know, WE do know that a scratched paint job is a way better alternative to driving into a trap or having our lives threatened.  Turning around would have been pretty difficult as it was pretty narrow there. 

 

Anyway.  Maybe I’m being ultra dramatic.  Or maybe God was supernaturally protecting us and hemming us in behind and before.  Yep, that’s what I think :) 

 

So again—thanks so much for praying… and thank you God for keeping us safe tonight!