VegaVentures: Back to School

Most people started back to school several weeks ago. We weren't able to. For the last few weeks we have been busy trying to get our school books out of customs so that we could begin the school year. We ordered our books and had them shipped here from the US, but due to a variety of complications we couldn't get them out of customs. The most unique of the problems we encountered was that you can't import maps of Peru into the country without special government permission. That is a rule that I knew nothing about. So while we ran around town trying to get the necessary documents, and making phone calls, the days ticked by.

We had hoped to start school about the same time as people in the US, so we were extremely discouraged by not being able to get our books. The red tape they were requiring of us and the inefficiency of the system was so frustrating. I couldn't understand why God was letting this happen. What could possible be the point of having our books held up in customs for 3 weeks? Who benefits from that? As I talked to others, however, I realized that my problems, as frustrating as they are, really are trivial. The world will not end if we start school a few weeks after everyone else. Things don't always have to go according to my schedule. Life will go on, and we will survive. Here in Peru, they have a much more laid back approach to schedules and time lines. Things will happen when they happen. For example, one of the major roadways (I hesitate to call it a highway) from Lima to the interior of the country is closed for renovation. It has been closed for a year, and in the meantime, the traffic is detoured through side streets and residential neighborhoods. In America, no one would have approved this slow construction time or this inconvenience to traffic and residents alike. But what can people here do? There really isn't much to be done, but just to live through it. As an American, I feel like I should have certain rights. I have the right to good customer service, efficiency, being treated with respect, a certain degree of convenience. But in the rest of the world, things don't always work that way. Things don't always go the way you think they should. I'm not saying that we should all just kick back and let life go by as it will. But it just serves to remind me that even when I can't control the situation, there is someone who is in control. There is a master schedule for all of our lives, and while things may frustrate us, "set us back", or detour us from what we had planned, in the end we have the assurance of knowing that none of it is happening by chance. We know that there is a God who loves us and is ordering our lives. He has our best in mind. So we can rest in him, wait on him, and let him fight our battles. Sometimes we just have to accept what He gives us, even though it isn't what we would have asked for.

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Pr. 16:9

I praise the Lord because he sees the bigger picture, and he knows the end of the story. I know that I can trust in him in all things. God is good ALL the time.

Well, this story does have a happy ending. Last week we finally went down to customs ourselves and did all of the paperwork in one day. Thanks to the Lord we got our books and this week we started back to school.