On the Lighter Side

For your reading pleasure, we've included an excerpt from our recent Brazil Bulletin, a periodic circular sent to our snail-mail list and inserted into the bulletin of a large church:

One morning a couple months ago we were leaving the house in a hurry to get to 7:15 AM classes at our school. After we shut the door, we realized we’d locked the keys inside, trapping ourselves near our car in the area between the house and the high outside gate which was also securely locked. Our classes were to begin in eight minutes and there we were, trying to figure out what to do!

A couple weeks later we were unloading the car after driving over to the school for evening classes. I pulled out my briefcase and grabbed a bag of theology books from the trunk. Vivian took out her folder and CD player for music class. Then I said, “But where’s the laptop?” Oh my! Before we left home I had taken our computer out to the street, placed it behind our car parked there, and promptly forgot to place it in the trunk before we drove away. Talk about panic!

Here are the happy endings to two potentially not-so-happy situations: As for the laptop, Vivian prayed while I took off very quickly toward home. I could hardly believe it as I drove up, but there was our laptop case, safe and sound, sitting by the curb just where I’d left it ten LONG minutes before! “Thank you, Lord!”

The padlocked door took a little more time. We remembered having a hacksaw in the outside storage room. With persistence I was soon able to saw through the lock shaft and free us from our embarrassment. It wasn’t soon enough, however, to avoid hearing a student comment when we finally got to the Seminary: “Prof Carlos is NEVER late to class! Wonder what happened!”

So what resulted from these trying experiences? We learned that in addition to asking a friend to keep an extra set of keys, we need to be more alert! Now when we leave the house you will hear one of us say: “Dear, you DO have the key, don’t you? Could it be that such incidents will increase as we near retirement age?

It seems that the Lord allows certain happenings to show us our need to depend on Him more. They affirm God’s sovereignty in our lives and cause us to pray more specifically, showing how He does answer prayer, even in the more mundane concerns of life. They also help us not to take ourselves too seriously! Our students just love it when they perceive that their teachers also have feet of clay. (But I still don’t like to get to class late!)