My friend, Thomi (pronounced ‘Tommy.’ I don’t know why, he’s just
weird that way…), was leading a group that was putting up a church roof on
an island off the coast of Mexico (they were based in El Mezquital). They transported a cement mixer to the
island on a rowboat (picture it…the wheels of the mixer hung off the sides of the boat) and, when they got there, the mixer
wouldn’t start. Because of their distance from the mainland, it wasn’t
practical to take it back. The mechanic from the company that owned
the mixer wouldn’t be there until late that night. After some
frustration at trying to start the mixer, Thomi decided to anoint it with
(motor) oil and pray for it.
end of the day, the mechanic showed up and looked the machine over to
see if he could find out why it hadn’t started. He discovered that it
did not have a spark plug. None. It functioned the whole day
without fire and compression, something that is absolutely impossible.
(Quick mechanics lesson; the spark plug provides a spark to ignite the fuel and seals the hole
to make it airtight.)
My friend, Jumbo, was associated with an organization in South Africa called UCSA(a Christian mission/camp/life change organization in SA.) He told me
of a team they sent into Zimbabwe in 2003 to work in a
village of 80 people. After working there for two weeks, they decided
to have a going away soup evening. They prepared a pot of soup that
would feed 80 people. Somehow, word
got out and, in a country that was/is devastated and desperate, more
than 800 people showed up.
Chicago/Atlanta/Dallas where one can zip over to the Sam’s Club and buy
more soup. And, if someone wasn’t fed, they would go home hungry, not
merely inconvenienced.
I’m trying to come up with some viable conclusion to this. How do you “wrap up” and synthesize these stories and others like them? I’m not really sure, but I’ll make an attempt in my next blog.
