“God is behind the scenes and controls the scenes He stands behind.'” Anon
Good bye October and welcome November. October has been a month of travel. I found that over the years you get these months every now and again where you always feel that you are travelling.
I started off by travelling down with Jack, as his time with us had come to a sad end. He really wanted to see the great Victoria Falls and so we embarked on a 1500km bus trip down to Livingstone. I am sure that the specifications for the seats of these busses were designed for the pygmies as boy they are tight. One word of caution! If you suffer from claustrophobia never, I say never travel on a bus in our part of the world. Yes it is tight!
Well about 18hrs later we landed in Livingstone. Yes we landed! These busses hurtle down at such a speed I am sure that we were beating those who were flying over head. We soon found a very neat little backpackers and settled down for a good few hours of well needed rest. I felt like I had jetlag and yet I had never left the ground, well not to the best of my knowledge. The next morning we hit the Falls and what a sight it always was. This time of the year the water level is down and so they are not as impressive as just after the rains, but they are still magnificent. After a few hours of taking in the sights and filling up our memory cards on our cameras we headed back to our cabin. Except we decided to take a local mini bus. We had all sorts of folks in the bus. We had the quiet ones and the vocal ones who had all the answers to the current political challenges. Why we do not look for our government in the mini busses beats me? Many times they make more sense and understand the challenges far better than the guys in their Pajero’s and Landcruisers. Again a trip not for the faint hearted, tight, hot and well a strong tinge of all our body odours rolled into one. In fact I cant even remember seeing a fly in the minis bus. Perhaps there is something in this body odour thing. The scientists should be looking into this. I am all for natural remedies, but ok, perhaps with a slight bit of artificial fragrance thrown in.
The next day it was another 500Km at mach 1 back to Lusaka. No we did not take a plane but the low flying bus. In fact we even managed to shave a whole hour of our time for the trip down! It was good to touch ground in Lusaka and to be picked up at the bus station by a friend who was going to lend us a vehicle for our stay. The service was by far better than any vehicle hire company.
Well it was goodbye Jack, fly well as I saw him through the security part of the Airport. Not realising that the plane had been cancelled and poor Jack had to spend another 24 hours in the care of Zambezi Airline, whom I have just heard from reliable sources, have been grounded for owing a very large amount of loot. Glad you got out when you did Jack.
Earlier this year I was informed that a young man, whom we dearly love, was getting married. October of this year was to be the wedding. We have known Stevie for a good number of years. He did some peace work for us to pay his way through school and now has just continued to work for us. Well, his sister had found this great gal and thought that he should snap her up before some other unsuspecting guy. After a good few months of negotiating, and a lot of loot on the table as the bride price, the deal was done. The majority of the loot coming from my pocket so I was quite keen to see what this gal was all about.
My job was to travel with a small entourage to go
and collect her. She was living with her folks about 200Km from where we live. Well after numerous date and venue changes we finally set on a date and the wedding was all go. Well the drive was a little more than I expected, a good 400Km round trip in pretty much 3rd gear. Once or twice I hit 4th for about 200m but 3rd gear it was to be. For me the proceedings were very interesting as final negotiations were 
completed, a meal was eaten, a small ceremony performed, where her relatives could give her some marital advice and gifts, and then we were off. And so 8 1/2 hours later we were back in Mbala. The next morning was the official Christian/Traditional wedding. Not held in a church but at the home of Jonas, our Evangelist, who is an African father to Stevie. He is not his biological father, but an uncle in our understanding. However, in African culture he is Stevie’s father. Wow what a great morning it was. Poor Stevie hardly knew this girl, did not even know her name! We are all hoping his sister made a good choice.
A few days later I was off to Lusaka again, and yes with our low flying transport. No not my Patrol, but Juldan Bus Service. We had a new bus, a long road and over a 1000Km to go. Well I do not know what we had under the hood, but she sure had power. We arrived a whole 2 hours ahead of schedule, safely. I bet these drivers and their busses could give the Formula One Teams a go for their money. The trip down was an administration trip to apply for Permanent Residence for Lynne and the children. I submitted the forms and now we wait. We pray that there will not be any complications. Since I submitted mine we have had a new government, who is implementing a lot of changes. A lot of offices are in limbo as they await directives from their new bosses. But our God is able!
And so with all these many miles travelled this last month I truly believe that God is in control of every situation. Whether the bus driver has the pedal to the metal or sometimes otherwise, God is greater than any situation and so a lesson learnt for me is that no matter what seemingly dangerous situation we face God is bigger and in absolute control. Lets learn to rest in Him! God bless you!
