Monday, March 24, 2014

The Unforeseen

If one of the things that frustrates me about teaching here is the lack organization and clear communication, it also happens to be the thing that frustrates me most about the country.

Yesterday, we were one our way back from Jesus Kids, a local orphanage for special kids. No sooner had we turned onto the main road, that we realized that there was a hold up of traffic in front of us.


After waiting for around an hour in stand still traffic, the rest of my car left me at the wheel, to go check it out. They came back to me later with the news that Ibadan was hosting a marathon and had blocked the roads.This meant that we were stuck until the end of the race.

After another hour of waiting, we decided to find a place to park our car and try to walk the rest of the way on foot. (I think that our overheated, delusional minds told us that it wasn't too far to get home. I mean, we could walk the 3 miles back, right? Let's just say it was probably twice that distance)

 After a fair bit of negotiating with a local shop, and a bribe or two just to make sure our car would still be there when we got back, we finally set off on foot. After we had walked probably 3/4 of a mile, cars started to drive past us and we realized that they had opened the roads again.

We got home tired and sweaty, close to 3 hours after we left the orphanage. We missed our worship service and were slightly cross.

Long story short, well there is no moral of this story other than to say that it sure is a whole lot easier to be joyful when things are going our way than it is when you're hot and stuffy and in a situation that could have been avoided had there been clear communication. What does it take to be like Paul who said, "I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content." - Phil 4:11

I want to live my life so centered and focused on Christ that the minor inconveniences that pop up, don't overwhelm or take my eyes off of my focus. I want to be able to find joy in those hot, sticky, smelly, mundane moments of my life.  God give me the grace to see You when things are going well and even more so in the moments when things aren't going the way that I think they should be.

I Thessalonians 5:18
Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.


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