words you don't want to hear...

Few words strike fear into the heart of modern man than, "Hey dude, I think a tree just fell on your truck." Those were the words I heard yesterday afternoon while we were working with a visiting mission team clearing land and burning wood on our property.

We had been working with the team to clear and burn the trees that we had cut down where we're going to build the house. After several hours of smoke and heat, everyone took a break for water and food. The team had just finished lunch, which ironically, they had eaten in the back of our pick-up and we had all gone back down the hill to resume work when a storm blew in. Suddenly, we heard a loud cracking sound up by the house. We looked up to see the top of a tree come crashing down. A few minutes later, one kind soul wandered down to the fire to inform me that, "Dude, I think a tree just fell on your truck." It has not been an easy two weeks with all of the moving (we're not in the land of U-Haul), running out of water and general bad news concerning our hopes of obtaining a back-hoe to finish our driveway and grade the lot. I was dead tired and frustrated and then I get the news that the tree we watched fall, actually fell on our truck. This could be extremely bad... vehicles are very expensive here as is auto insurance. A million thoughts went through my mind and I really started to wonder how much more I could take. I walked up the hill and saw...



After almost breaking down in front of 20 teenagers, someone said that they didn't really think it was as bad as it looked. Turns out, the tree had missed the cab by about two inches and fell directly on the bed. I figured that at the very least, the bed might be crushed and there might be some problems with the suspension. Thank God...as we looked things over, we realized that nothing at all had happened to the truck. We were able to cut the tree off with a chainsaw and after about 20 minutes, the whole thing was over... or so we thought. Unfortunately, about 20 minutes after our landlord left, we realized that the tree had broken one of the power lines inside the insulation where it wasn't visible. We were without power for the rest of the afternoon, but by 9:00pm Delroy had the problem fixed and we were back in business. It made for a very stressful day but thankfully, it ended with pretty much everything in working order.

One of the things I have realized in our time down here is that the Devil truly is in the details. We don't face persecution. We haven't been run out of town. We don't have to smuggle bibles into the country or any of these things that people face for their faith in other places. What we do face is spiritual opposition in the form of frustration, depression and apathy. Satan has become much more real to me here than ever before and he uses a constant barrage of small things to wear us down. Sometimes it works. I have learned to never underestimate the power of the enemy. He seems to use the small things... things that might go by unnoticed, were they not so constant, to really get us down. We could use your prayers. Satan does not want us to succeed. Satan does not want this place to experience the grace of God and he certainly does not want us to make it as a family. Please pray for us.