Anyone ever heard of "Monster's Incorporated"? Well, we recently ran into their close cousins in the Czech Republic. I named them "Criminals Incorporated." Here's what happened…
About two weeks ago, I saw in Rick's journal where he had written that he was expecting something very difficult and challenging to happen. In his private devotional time, he felt like God had shown him that we were going to experience some difficulties soon. About a week later, Rick was talking about it to the children during our family devotional time, and I told him privately later that I didn't like him saying such things as it alarmed me.
Two days later, we were on our way to Hungary and were still in the Czech Republic. Everyone was happy and I was sitting in the back working on the computer when I heard a noise and then right after Rick pulled off the road and said, "This doesn't look good." The oil light was on and the engine had shut off and was very hot. We obviously couldn't go anywhere so we decided what our next step should be. We could see a village in the distance sou our first thought was to walk there and try to find an auto mechanic, however, we looked in our tour book and found the emergency roadside number so Rick called it. Suprisingly, the operator spoke English so he was able to easily tell them where we were at. Before long, they said a tow truck was on the way, and the price seemed quite inexpensive to have our vehicle towed to the nearest mechanic.
After some time, the tow truck driver arrived and wanted to know what we were going to do with the children, and I told him we were going to walk to the village and wait on Rick there. That wasn't ideal since it was quite a ways, so eventually, the tow truck driver put our 15 passenger van up on the tow truck (the platform type) and told us to hop inside.
Now I don't know about you, but I am a very safety conscious person and riding on the back of a tow truck in a van high above the ground is not my idea of safety. However, the kids thought it was a great ride and it was quite humorous to see us riding along on the back of the tow truck. Perhaps my finger nail marks are still on the head rest in front of me! Anyway, he slowly lowered us down and said he was leaving us with "his friend" at this auto se
rvice who could fix our van right away today.
Well, it didn't take us too long to discover that we had landed at "Criminals Incorporated." They handed us the bill for towing and discovered that had attached on every imaginable fee. They had our van there which we couldn't move and they proceede to attempt to advantage of us in every way possible.
After about four to six hours of sitting there, we finally realized that the engine was ruined and would have to be replaced or rebuilt. Of course, they had a nice fee for that and who knows that they would have done if we had agreed. Besides that, they said it would take most of the week to get it done.
At this point, Rick called our friend in Romania and asked his advice since we were getting ready to spend the month with him. He made some calls and called back and told us to catch the next available train to Romania, leave the van with the crooks and he would send a tow truck to get it. Basically, we could have the van towed 10 hours one way across four countries, and get it fixed faster and still come out cheaper than "Criminals Incorporated" were giving us a price for.
We asked Criminals Incorporated (afterward referred to as CI) if we could park the van there until we could make other plans and they agreed to do it—for a fee. We didn't tell them we were sending someone to get it because we figured they would make it disappear. However, if they were receiving parking rent, they would probably keep it for a short time.
We only had a few minutes to gather a few things out of the van so I started dumping bags and frantically sorting out just the essentials we would need for a week or so. Then we had the criminals take us to the bus station—for a fee-- and headed on our way. We travelled all night on various trains and finally arrived in Oradea, Romania about 9 in the morning.
At midnight we had our plans laid and our Romanian friend took off with the tow truck driver for the Czech Republic to try and get our van back. Of course, there were a lot of prayers going on during this whole episode and we prayed through the night while they were travelling. Sometimes, I was tempted to pray "imprecatory prayers" if you know what I mean, but God helped me to "bless them that curse you" and we were thankful for the kindness of so many people in Romania who helped us out with meals and a place to stay.
To make a very long and tiring story short, two mornings later, I woke up to the sound of a diesel engine outside our window and the tow truck driver had arrived with our van. Thank the Lord that CI had been thwarted at least from stealing or damaging our van. We had our van back with several more fees attached so it was being taken to another mechanic in Romania.
Well, that's the story of Criminals Incorporated. We believe that nothing happens to us without God knowing it and allowing it. We knew that all of this was in His plan so we did not have to worry about it. We got to see God work in so many ways especially in working it out for our van to be repaired at a Ford mechanic in Romania rather than at the CI place.
Another thing that really encouraged me was in how God watched over our every need. When was the last time that you needed food? We don't have to pray for food because we usually have all the money we need and a Super Walmart down the road. In our situation, we had just a few minutes to grab things from our van so we didn't have much food to take with us. We knew from our experience in Europe before that we needed to take food and water on the trains, but in this case, it was all we could do to just get to the train station in time let alone stop and buy necessary food. We had water in the van so I grabbed that, but food was in short supply.
We travelled for hours and everyone started to get hungry. We had a lay over at a dumpy little train station in Arad, Romania in the early morning hours. I took the little ones inside the train station to keep them warm and had not been in the station long when an old lady walked over and handed Christian and Precious candy. I told her "Thank you" in English since I know no Romanian. A few minutes later a young lady walked over and handed Christian and Precious sandwiches and said, "Eat." I guess she heard my English and knew at least one word.
Let me say this—we were not dying of malnutrition as most of us have enough spare fat to survive for quite a while, but food was getting to be on our minds. The children were not acting hungry where people would know that we had not eaten—it was God who was prompting these people to do this. After a while, someone else walked by and handed Paul a banana. Before we got where we were going, we were all sitting in the train station talking with our Romanian friend when an old lady got up from across the station and walked over and handed us a whole bag of baked cakes—similar to pancakes. We wanted to thank her so our Romanian friend went to speak with her. She said that she didn't know why, but she made extra that morning and brought them with her.
This was all quite amazing to me because no one knew that we hadn't eaten and no one knew our situation. When was the last time some one just walked up to you and handed you food? I don't know when it has ever happened to me like this before, but maybe it was because I never needed it. Anyway, it was such a blessing to see how God took care of everything we needed. Criminals Incorporated may have looked like they were winning for a while, but God was never very far away. What an encouragement to know that God is never very far away.
About two weeks ago, I saw in Rick's journal where he had written that he was expecting something very difficult and challenging to happen. In his private devotional time, he felt like God had shown him that we were going to experience some difficulties soon. About a week later, Rick was talking about it to the children during our family devotional time, and I told him privately later that I didn't like him saying such things as it alarmed me.
Two days later, we were on our way to Hungary and were still in the Czech Republic. Everyone was happy and I was sitting in the back working on the computer when I heard a noise and then right after Rick pulled off the road and said, "This doesn't look good." The oil light was on and the engine had shut off and was very hot. We obviously couldn't go anywhere so we decided what our next step should be. We could see a village in the distance sou our first thought was to walk there and try to find an auto mechanic, however, we looked in our tour book and found the emergency roadside number so Rick called it. Suprisingly, the operator spoke English so he was able to easily tell them where we were at. Before long, they said a tow truck was on the way, and the price seemed quite inexpensive to have our vehicle towed to the nearest mechanic.
After some time, the tow truck driver arrived and wanted to know what we were going to do with the children, and I told him we were going to walk to the village and wait on Rick there. That wasn't ideal since it was quite a ways, so eventually, the tow truck driver put our 15 passenger van up on the tow truck (the platform type) and told us to hop inside.
Now I don't know about you, but I am a very safety conscious person and riding on the back of a tow truck in a van high above the ground is not my idea of safety. However, the kids thought it was a great ride and it was quite humorous to see us riding along on the back of the tow truck. Perhaps my finger nail marks are still on the head rest in front of me! Anyway, he slowly lowered us down and said he was leaving us with "his friend" at this auto se
rvice who could fix our van right away today.Well, it didn't take us too long to discover that we had landed at "Criminals Incorporated." They handed us the bill for towing and discovered that had attached on every imaginable fee. They had our van there which we couldn't move and they proceede to attempt to advantage of us in every way possible.
After about four to six hours of sitting there, we finally realized that the engine was ruined and would have to be replaced or rebuilt. Of course, they had a nice fee for that and who knows that they would have done if we had agreed. Besides that, they said it would take most of the week to get it done.
At this point, Rick called our friend in Romania and asked his advice since we were getting ready to spend the month with him. He made some calls and called back and told us to catch the next available train to Romania, leave the van with the crooks and he would send a tow truck to get it. Basically, we could have the van towed 10 hours one way across four countries, and get it fixed faster and still come out cheaper than "Criminals Incorporated" were giving us a price for.
We asked Criminals Incorporated (afterward referred to as CI) if we could park the van there until we could make other plans and they agreed to do it—for a fee. We didn't tell them we were sending someone to get it because we figured they would make it disappear. However, if they were receiving parking rent, they would probably keep it for a short time.
We only had a few minutes to gather a few things out of the van so I started dumping bags and frantically sorting out just the essentials we would need for a week or so. Then we had the criminals take us to the bus station—for a fee-- and headed on our way. We travelled all night on various trains and finally arrived in Oradea, Romania about 9 in the morning.
At midnight we had our plans laid and our Romanian friend took off with the tow truck driver for the Czech Republic to try and get our van back. Of course, there were a lot of prayers going on during this whole episode and we prayed through the night while they were travelling. Sometimes, I was tempted to pray "imprecatory prayers" if you know what I mean, but God helped me to "bless them that curse you" and we were thankful for the kindness of so many people in Romania who helped us out with meals and a place to stay.
To make a very long and tiring story short, two mornings later, I woke up to the sound of a diesel engine outside our window and the tow truck driver had arrived with our van. Thank the Lord that CI had been thwarted at least from stealing or damaging our van. We had our van back with several more fees attached so it was being taken to another mechanic in Romania.
Well, that's the story of Criminals Incorporated. We believe that nothing happens to us without God knowing it and allowing it. We knew that all of this was in His plan so we did not have to worry about it. We got to see God work in so many ways especially in working it out for our van to be repaired at a Ford mechanic in Romania rather than at the CI place.
Another thing that really encouraged me was in how God watched over our every need. When was the last time that you needed food? We don't have to pray for food because we usually have all the money we need and a Super Walmart down the road. In our situation, we had just a few minutes to grab things from our van so we didn't have much food to take with us. We knew from our experience in Europe before that we needed to take food and water on the trains, but in this case, it was all we could do to just get to the train station in time let alone stop and buy necessary food. We had water in the van so I grabbed that, but food was in short supply.
We travelled for hours and everyone started to get hungry. We had a lay over at a dumpy little train station in Arad, Romania in the early morning hours. I took the little ones inside the train station to keep them warm and had not been in the station long when an old lady walked over and handed Christian and Precious candy. I told her "Thank you" in English since I know no Romanian. A few minutes later a young lady walked over and handed Christian and Precious sandwiches and said, "Eat." I guess she heard my English and knew at least one word.
Let me say this—we were not dying of malnutrition as most of us have enough spare fat to survive for quite a while, but food was getting to be on our minds. The children were not acting hungry where people would know that we had not eaten—it was God who was prompting these people to do this. After a while, someone else walked by and handed Paul a banana. Before we got where we were going, we were all sitting in the train station talking with our Romanian friend when an old lady got up from across the station and walked over and handed us a whole bag of baked cakes—similar to pancakes. We wanted to thank her so our Romanian friend went to speak with her. She said that she didn't know why, but she made extra that morning and brought them with her.
This was all quite amazing to me because no one knew that we hadn't eaten and no one knew our situation. When was the last time some one just walked up to you and handed you food? I don't know when it has ever happened to me like this before, but maybe it was because I never needed it. Anyway, it was such a blessing to see how God took care of everything we needed. Criminals Incorporated may have looked like they were winning for a while, but God was never very far away. What an encouragement to know that God is never very far away.
2 comments:
oh what a wonderful story and what a GREAT lesson for the children to carry with them throughout their lives. Thanks for sharing!
What a wonderful experience. What a great God!
We keep praying for you.
A+B H.
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