“She’s finally arriving!” thinks one Pioneer in Hungary as she goes to pick up her friend from the airport. The reunion is sweet and the conversation flowing when, two minutes from the airport, her newly-purchased van breaks down on the side of the road. A few minutes and prayers later the van starts back up and continues its journey…only to break down again five minutes later. Never one to be easily defeated, she keeps chugging down the road as far as her crippled vehicle will allow her, even enlisting the help of innocent bystanders to roll the van away from an incoming bus. However, one hour later and still only a few miles from the airport, she begins weighing her options: calling a tow truck will be expensive, but at this rate, they wouldn’t get home until midnight! Finally, the hungry kids and husband waiting at home win the day, and the tow truck is called.
Choosing to remain positive and cheerful in spite of the circumstances, she takes her friend to taste the local delicacies while they wait, headed to the nearest and only trusted establishment of the area- the Shell gas station. She easily disarms the unsmiling woman at the cash register, speaking to her in Hungarian and putting her at ease with her laughter and jokes while her friend happily munches on Hungarian candy bars. Eventually it’s time to head back to the van and the waiting tow-truck driver.
Though tempting to just turn to her friend and catch up in English, she begins chatting with the driver, a friendly man who she discovers is a chef in his spare time. The conversation moves from the intricacies of true Hungarian cuisine to parenting challenges and finally to bad experiences with religion. How can we be sure God is real? Can we know truth? What do we think about Jesus? Who do you say He is? Pulling up to her house, the conversation ends with his conclusion of “we just can’t know for sure” and her parting question “…or can we?”. She heads inside to feed her starving children and get her tired friend settled in after an hours-long airport pickup.
We dream of those epic moments on the field where you see extraordinary things happen and lives changed, where the Spirit comes down in great power. Yet most days are just ordinary ones full of ordinary activities. Serving on the field includes the normal frustrations and mishaps of life, whether it be missed buses or plumbing problems or cars breaking down. We are called, however, to seize the moment whatever it might be, to “make the most of every opportunity, redeeming the time because the days are evil” (Eph 5:17). Sometimes this is as simple as showing love to the woman at the cash register by engaging her in conversation or planting seeds of the Gospel as your newly-purchased-and-broken-down van is being towed home.