I asked my bother, Brian, if I could forward a recent story he shared about missionary life in Zambia. Here it is:
A couple of weeks ago, a fellow missionary asked me, “So do you have a daily routine?” As I have pondered that question, yesterday seemed to stick out as a good example of my routine:
After sitting down at my desk in the morning to prepare some Bible lessons to be taught in April, my gardener burst into my office all out of breath. He said his mother was giving birth at the local clinic but had run into difficulties. Now they urgently needed transport to the hospital in Solwezi town, 60 kilometers away. I grabbed the keys to my truck and off we sped.
After loading his mother into the back of the pick-up, we departed for Solwezi at full speed. Half way to Solwezi, we ran into a torrential downpour; I slipped the Three Tenors into the CD player to steel my nerves. Upon arrival at the hospital, I backed the truck up to the front door of the main building only to find out as we opened the tailgate that the baby was tired of waiting and on its way. The doctor and nurses just jumped into the back of my truck, and moments later, a little baby was born to the moving tones of Pavarotti singing ‘Nessun Dorma.’
“…I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.” Genesis 3:16
Being in labor for 45 minutes at 120 kilometers per hour in the back of a Toyota 4×4 brings new meaning to this verse for me. I asked my gardener what they were going to name the child. He replied, “Toyota Rain”.
My wife, Susan, was totally unsatisfied with this story. She wrote to Africa: “What was the baby?” (That question never entered my mind…) Sondra, Brian’s wife, responded that she asked Brian the exact same question when he returned. His answer: “Oh… I don’t know.” Sondra chased down the gardener and found that the baby was a boy and would be called “Toy” for short.
So, wives and sweethearts, please be patient with us men… especially on days like Valentine’s Day. We just don’t think sometimes…
“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone…’” Genesis 2:18