God really does care about the small things...

Yesterday, Cesar (a good friend of mine who has a strong passion for ministry), Orlando (a new friend who was deported from the States but has given his life to the Lord), and I rode around to certain areas in Nicaragua. We were hoping to meet up with a couple of pastors and discuss dreams of a camp ministry. Unfortunately, we missed both pastors due to falty time scheduling, a common problem in Nicaragua. But all-in-all it turned out to be a very interesting day. When Cesar picked me up from MQV in his ’72 VW Bug, he mentioned getting new shocks but since then the steering has had more play than usual. There was also no AC and the windows wouldn't roll down; only the little ones by the side mirrors that pull in. It got hot quick!

Well, in short, we began having all sorts of problems. Eventually the car wouldn’t start and we had to pop the clutch 3 times to get it cranked. Then, the horn shorted out and would honk at random. I never really thought this happened, but it reminded me of Brian Reagan’s comedic act. The only things we could do was make a joke out of the situation and wave at people when we passed by honking. Luckily, people here honk often while driving. Cesar jokingly told me that he hadn’t had any problems like this until I got in the car. Finally, the front-left tire became loose, not the lug nuts but the whole rim seemed loose on the axle. At times the car would pull hard to the left. This was a pretty big problem and getting worse. I thought at any moment we were going to lose the front tire. We were about 15 miles from the city with no chance for a tow truck. I was a bit worried. We were driving very slowly – less than 10 mph – for fear off loosing a tire at high speed. Then Cesar asked me to pray, because he felt that the Enemy was trying to stop us from doing work for the Lord. I just thought that we were driving a very old car. However, I prayed and as soon as the first words came out of my mouth the car pulled hard left.

"Great. See. This isn't going to do any good," I thought.

But we prayed for a long time because we weren't going to be anywhere for a while. After that first jerk to the left, there wasn't another one the whole way home. Cesar was amazed, and I was too for that matter. God answered the desperate prayers of two faithful Nicas and one doubtful gringo.

Cesar told me today that he drove the Bug to church and still hasn't had a problem. To me that is unbelieveable because the car was starting to pull hard left every 30 seconds or so before we prayed. One thing to be learned from this is that prayer works, even when our faith is tiny (like a mustard seed, maybe).