Life out of Africa

4 Feb, 2011
Sitting in CDG after an uneventful flight from Gabon. Quiet. Starting to feel a bit tired.

Amazing to see how old I have become at this point in life. It takes time to mature, just realizing how purposeful life must be lived in order for maturity to be to become a reality. Takes years. Watching Luke and Sara grow up has been insightful to me, just to realize how consistent and enduring the training and relating has to be to lay a solid foundation for future maturity. Fun to see it happening in their lives! Same for little Luc :-)

Yesterday was a rather longish day -
Woke at 4:30 to roll out of bed beneath the whirling dervish of a fan spinning loudly overhead - but not loud enough to drown out the sounds of insect and avian activity outside my house. The sounds of the jungle awakening to another warm, humid, sun be-splotched day.

Quick shower and breakfast, final clean out and house review, and then into the old Land Cruiser to start for Mouilla 2+ hours North.
Boarded the OP “bus” for the 6-7 hr trip north to Libreville - a rapidly deteriorating dilapidated Toyota designed for 17 people without luggage. We packed it with 17 people AND all their luggage - which included huge bunches of plantains, bags of potatoes, and coolers. The tires rubbed the wheel-wells when we rolled over the pot-holes.
Thankfully my long legs earned us a berth in the first row which allowed for a scosh more room :)

Traveling at speeds up to 75 MPH we made pretty good time towards Libreville. The tires started smoking after a couple of hours of rubbing them intermittently on the metal frame every time we hit those “potholes”, which became very frequent. The smell of burning rubber convinced a few of the passengers we were in for trouble.
When we stopped for lunch several tried to convince our “chauffeur” to look for another tire. He appeared to be about 17 y/o, and acted much less mature. Their pleas fell on deaf ears.

About another hour down the road the driver stopped to pour water on the smoking brakes - which started to convince me we were not only smelling hot tires but also burning brake fluid. I started praying we wouldn’t end up flying off one of the curves and ending up in the jungle a few hundred feet down a hill and upside down.

Another 30+ minutes and the bus came to a growling (literally) halt as the right front wheel seized. Loud voices of protest and remonstration followed the driver out his door and even though it was in French I caught the gist quite distinctly. Swearing in French is still swearing.

We all piled out on the side of the road to see how bad the tire was - and it wasn’t the tire. It was the wheel.
The driver got back in and tried to get it to move, and that’s when we heard the distinct metallic growl and saw the growing pool of fluid coming out of the rear axle. The differential joint had been tortured to destruction when the driver had tried to using the transmission rather ineffectively as a brake on the last few hills. He had been jamming the gears pretty hard.
We were going no where in that vehicle.

After a couple of phone calls by the driver he announced that there would be another bus in a few hours :)

Dr. Miller had started talking with another passenger about an hour before the events. He was a physician studying cardiology on his way back to school. As our phone didn’t work he was kind enough to allow me to place a call to our travel coordinator who instructed me to flag down a passing car and try to hitch a ride to Libreville - still 4-5 hours away!
Johari was really praying at this point. She could see any hope of a couple days in Paris quickly disappearing, as well as the price of another ticket out of Gabon.

Word got around pretty quickly that the “Americans” were going to miss their plane out that evening and I was frankly amazed at how the other Gabonese began earnestly flagging down any vehicle that passed and asking if they could take us to Libreville. It almost looked like it was the “mission” for the afternoon to see us on our way!

Shortly, i.e., within an hour, a lady passing by in a compact, four-door Mitsubishi, car stopped and agreed to take us on with her.

When she opened her trunk for our luggage I saw it was packed with fresh and old (very ripe) plantains, a huge smoked jungle rat, and another large slab of relatively fresh beef, along with stacks of fish! After trying to re-arrange her trunk, the other passengers agreed it would be best (along with my encouragement) to get all our baggage in the back seat instead.
After a bit of negotiation, and the lady getting in on the packing, ALL the luggage and myself were stuffed in the back seat. I figured Johari would enjoy trying to communicate with the lady in the front seat - plus there was seat-belt up there! I didn’t want her getting hurt on my conscience.

The sun came out strong about that point and began to heat the jungle along with our car.

I quickly found the smell of the humid, hot, jungle wafting through the wide-open window only partially dampened the odor of fish, smoked rat, and rapidly ripening meat coming through the backseat - permeating my sweat-soaked shirt.

Blessed with finely tuned olfactory sensors I just pulled my hat tighter, put on my sun-glasses, plugged in my ear buds, and pointed my nose toward the open window. I was very happy to be moving North! After an hour or so I didn’t notice as much. It was well-worth all discomfort just to be moving towards Libreville instead of standing on the road-side feeding the mosquitoes. It was kind of humous because while I had even more room than on the bus (crazy!) I was awakened by a hard smack on my head when the roof collided with my skull. Not much suspension in the rear of that tiny car.

Far be it from me to complain whatsoever!! That wonderful lady got us to Libreville (after a couple of her shopping stops) in enough time to grab a shower, eat an unbelievably good meal by Alace, and on to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Just before all this transpired I had been telling Johari about some scrapes our family had been in - and how God had always provided a way out. Today was no different.

So, after a 12 1/2 hour road-trip, followed by a shower and a supper, we were sitting in the airport ready to depart. The plane left on schedule at 11pm. Slept about an hour on the 6 1/2 hr over-night flight. Enjoyed a raisin croissant, cappuccino, with my malaria pill for breakfast. Now waiting to depart in another 2 hours.

I’m in France :)

SO - thank you for praying.

Another average trip.
I love it when average is not normal.

It is becoming colder as I sit here. The fog outside is still very thick. The planes come and go. And soon I’ll be on board.

Thankful for life and the opportunity to just live it. Maybe today I will get to see Jesus face to face. If not, maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile it is always interesting to see what the next few moments hold. There is nothing mundane about living in anticipation. Full life includes expectation, fulfillment along with filling, giving and receiving - time, people, places, relationships.
Thankful for the blessing to catch glimpses of the reality we all take so much for granted.
I know most of my interactions with people is not “extraordinary”. Most of our conversations and relating is “normal”. Beneath it all though I still sense a river of reality flowing deep with more implications than I will ever appreciate.
May you be blessed and filled with the wonder of living another day in relationship with our Creator and in anticipation of what is next in eternity. Have a beautiful day!
See you soon!

John