How God works is mysterious! There is no one like Him and no one can predict His ways. When God works in His unique and mysterious way and one recognizes it, it can feel like time simply stops moving and one just stands in awe of God praising His goodness. At least, that is how is often works with me, Sarah.

In the past few weeks we have experienced a number of said moments. Too many to share in this short update, perhaps multiple blog posts (that would mean starting one, which I have been praying about) or a book (sorry, not ready to write a book, yet) would be needed. Anyway, back to the point of this update. It is titled ‘A Tale of Two Flats,’ a very interesting title, wouldn’t you agree? Well, keep reading and you will understand the meaning behind this true tale very shortly.

Three weeks ago, Peter had to take Elisabeth to the US Embassy to pick up her renewed passport. When they arrived at the Embassy they noticed a couple young ladies standing in front of the Embassy with a stack of suitcases and bags. They also looked very upset. Peter, the sweet and caring man that he is noticed the distress the young ladies appeared to be in and proceeded to introduce himself and Elisabeth and asked if everything was ok. After a few introductions and Peter building his credibility as a respectable fellow American in Costa Rica, the young ladies recounted their tale of how they got a flat tire the night before while driving to their hotel and how they were robbed of all their identification, credit cards, cell phones, passports and money while they were changing the flat tire on their rental car. They were still visibly shaken up by what happened to them, desperately trying to get new temporary passports from the US Embassy, with the hope of going to the airport to change their flights and immediately leave Costa Rica. It is horrible that this happened to these young ladies, as they will probably never want to come back to beautiful Costa Rica, just because someone had to hurt someone in a time need. As Peter was recounting this story later that day I began to see God’s hand at work. God brought Peter and Elisabeth to them at a moment when they needed a kind, caring soul to lift their spirits. One of the young ladies knew of American Baptist International Ministries and even had a couple common friends with Peter! It was an interaction that touched Peter and Elisabeth’s hearts and we pray that the hearts of the young ladies were also touched by God in that moment. We are confident they successfully obtained new temporary passports and changed their flights and that God worked out all the other details and helped them get back to the US.

A couple days later, I was my way to the kids’ school for a parent meeting when I got my first flat tire (insert very sad face here)! But, God provided an angel to help me out while Peter was driving to come help me out. I thank God that my flat tire happened 20 yards from a gas station, we use often, where I safely parked my car, call my hero of a husband, and safely wait for him to arrive. The gas attendants (all gas stations in Costa Rica are full-service) directed me as to where to park my car and instructed me to wait a moment while they finished attending to the car they were refueling. They were ready and willing to help me out. Then suddenly a car pulls his car up to the pump closest to my car, sees my flat tire and immediately asks me where my spare tire was, the tools and jack were so that he could help me. In this moment, with my adrenaline pumping from the excitement (not in a good way) and God’s grace I could understand this man’s Spanish and the technical car terms he was using. He literally changed out my flat tire in less than 5 minutes. He was my angel in disguise that night, even the gas attendant was impressed by this man’s ability to change my flat tire.  By the time he finished, Peter had not yet arrived (the flat tire happened less than 10 minutes from our house), but did a few minutes later. I, then, continued to the school for the parent meeting that I was now late for but since I was running on “tico time” I technically wasn’t late! Tico time, as defined by Urban Dictionary, means: it is a phrase that is used to describe the nonchalant attitude of Costa Rican’s (Tico’s) have about being (not) on time.

God’s ways are His ways. He put us in a situation to help someone out after a horrible flat tire experience and then God put someone else in my path to help me out during my flat tire experience. Thank you God for bringing specific people into our life and helping us to seeing who you want us to minister to.