Moving to a Different World

When we were told we would be moving to Zambia the excitement was enormous. The girls had visions of Zebras and Elephants, Palm trees and Banana's by the bunch. Donna and I had other visions, after the initial shock. How do you move a family to a land that has limited electricity and water. One of my biggest responsibilities would be the supply of water and electricity to a mission station that had about 1000 people depending on those utilities. I knew that during the rains the electricity would be very limited and the water would be nasty.

We were told to bring everything we would need for four years of life. Now if Hilary grew like Marily she would sprout, without fertilizer, about six to eight inches. How in the world could we plan for that. I left that in Donna's capable hands. For over six weeks we spent hours shopping and planning. The few appliances and electronic items had to be capable of running on a different electrical voltage. So, in order to bring anything electric from the states we had to plug them into small transformers that changed the voltage.

Donna and I are coffee drinkers, so we brought a couple of cases of our favorite coffee. Boxes of instant noodles, soups, mac&cheese, drinks, all would be going with us. By the end of six weeks our supply of items was a small hill in a garage. The shipping company sent me the specifications for shipping containers that i needed to build. Each container was a five foot cube and I needed five containers. I built the containers and we began to pack them, taking precautions to pack fragile items in between bags of clothes or sleeping bags.

I think we planned pretty well and the day came for the international shippers to gather our precious belongings and send them to us. As well prepared as we thought we were there were situations we did not imagine and beyond our control. Our meager Christmas decorations were stolen as the containers sat at the airport in London. A few minor things also came up missing. Also, once the containers arrived in Zambia and I loaded them on a big truck I had no way to off load them. So, five containers on a flatbed had to be unloaded, still on the truck.

As well as we plan the unplanned for will jump at us. It is true in all of life. We try to be healthy, eat right and take care of ourselves and the doctor uses the cancer word. We plan and save and the medical bills pile up and we are lost and swallowed up in debt. In my case, Donna and I were in the midst of buying a business that would provide a good income and security and then, emergency surgery on my spinal cord that left me disabled. Our plans must be mold-able by the hand of God. He knows tomorrow as clearly as He knows yesterday.

I'm glad my life is in His hands. If it had been up to me I wouldn't be writing this blog or about to have my book published. You see, God had to show me what He really wanted from my life. Not to be in any business but His.