Planning Schmanning! God is in Control!

Jeff writes:

When you go on a trip, how many of you like to plan everything out like when you will leave, what time you need to make connections, and where you will stay? Or would you rather leave not knowing any of the above?

Well I belong to the former group, but I live in a country where preplanning is not possible. This is “the land of the unexpected” after all, but it does have one huge advantage and that is getting to live the adventure of watching God work things out in marvelous and unexpected ways.

For example, on the day I left for Goroka I slept in late. I needed to leave early in the morning to be able to complete the round trip in one day as I had planned.

Nevertheless, I packed a few things in a day pack in case I got stranded and had to stay over night, and then I set out on foot to catch a PMV (public motor vehicle) to Goroka. Walking down a CLTC road I met a couple of friends who told me that a CLTC family was headed to Goroka and that we could travel together. Great idea and totally unplanned!

However that meant I had to wait for this family to get ready to leave, which I do not like to do, especially when I am behind schedule. The father, whose name is Anton, told me that he knew of a CLTC vehicle that would take us to the main PMV stop in Banz (and thus save us time). Good idea I thought.

Twenty minutes later the van showed up.

We arrived in Banz, but there was no PMV, so I went to the store to buy a card to recharge the minutes on my cell phone, so I could at least stay in touch with my wife. Within seconds after entering the information into my phone, Anton arrived to let me know he had found a PMV. Happy news, and we were on our way.

Almost.

Our plans were to head to Kundiawa, and then change PMVs to go to Goroka. Unfortunately, the driver did not want to risk negotiating a gaping sinkhole in the highway. So he let us all out, refunded part of our fare, and we walked across the rocky divide.

Guess what?

Within minutes we boarded another PMV on the other side. We handed the boss crew (the guy who collects the money in the PMV) our recently-refunded fares plus one kina more and voila we were on our way again.

Changing PMVs in Kundiawa was a breeze, and we were on our way to Goroka. PTL!

On my way I was thinking that if we arrived in Goroka before 2:00 p.m., I could pick up the car (with our washing machine in the boot) and still drive the four hours back to the CLTC before the sun went down.

You’ll never know what happened next!

We got there at 1:30! Ahead of schedule no less!

Then I had a change of heart. My aching back really did not relish getting pounded over the bumpy roads for another four hours, and I had lost any desire to drive in the heavy afternoon rainy-season storms, so I decided to see if I could stay the night.

However, first I had to part with Anton’s family. Before we did he said that he would be happy to ride back with me the next day, which was fine with me as I really did not want to make the trip alone. Another answer to prayer …

So we parted.

I walked to the house where I had left our car the week before, and having arrived later than I said I would I thought no one would be home, but you know what? All the right people were there. I was met by the Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship (CRMF) guesthouse manager, who let me into the compound and arranged a room for me to stay in, and then she found Dan who had my car keys.

Two problems solved transportation and lodging…

Now that I had my car, and a place to spend the night, I was able to go buy gas and visit the grocery store to pick up some crackers, cheese, coffee and a whole box of candy bars. (I did after all need something for dinner and breakfast.)

Speaking of dinner …

When Michael, who had been a guest at our home and who manages CRMF in Goroka, found out I was around, he invited me for dinner with his lovely family. Fun and yum!

Early the next morning …

I took the room keys back to Dan, left him at his home, and found Anton waiting in town. We took off a little after eight in the morning and passed the two places where the landslips had occurred, which had stranded Sue and me the week before.

Whew, but what is that tree doing across the road?

And what do all those people with bush knives and axes want? Oh, some road money is all. “Road money” is paid to anyone who helps to straighten out obstacles on the road be they large potholes or in this case a big tree. The initial request was for ten kina, but acting on Anton’s advice we paid two.

On our way again, but what do those guys with bush knives want standing around the big water hole flooding the highway?

Road money of course. However, these guys weren’t doing anything to earn it. While they were shaking down the truck driver in front of us, Anton told me they were just a bunch of ne’er-do-wells, but what could we do?

Say hello and get out of there quickly as possible is what we did.

The main guy said, “Monin’ boss.” I said, “Monin’,” popped the clutch and drove through the waterhole. All the while I kept a sharp eye on the guys with the knives. I hoped that they would be so stunned or that they would think that I was so stupid to try what I was planning that they would not react in time.

Which is exactly happened. See ya, double-whew, and PTL!

The sinkhole was our next big obstacle.

When we arrived at the site, a PMV headed in the opposite direction had high-centered on some fairly large rocks. In so doing he blocked traffic in both directions. However, a lot of folks pitched in, and after twenty minutes or so, he was able to drive on. After waiting another fifteen minutes to allow all the traffic traveling in the opposite direction to pass, it was our turn.

The sinkhole was a piece of cake in our little Suzuki, but the rocky mounds that followed were another story.

I had to be careful driving because of our washer in the back of the car, so I ended up stalling it once trying to go too slowly over some fairly hefty bumps. More speed would have helped, but more speed meant more crunching, careening, and catapulting ourselves and the washer, so I finally gave in and put our little beastie in four-wheel drive. We eased our way over the bumps, and as the Aussies say we had,

“No worries, mate!”

Anton proved to have a thorough knowledge of the road. He continued to alert me to hidden potholes, severe drops, and other bumps along the way, which made the trip more bearable.

We arrived home shortly ahead of schedule, unpacked the car and set up the washing machine all before Sue returned from church.

Some final statistics …

This trip started out two weeks ago with a visit to the dentist. During that time we traveled 630 kilometers, had a tooth, washing machine and car repaired, and took an unscheduled airplane trip. And oh yes, I had one flat tire. I noticed it in the driveway after we got back.

So you see …

The Lord does answer prayer, and He was watching over us the whole way.

Hey, who needs reservations anyway?