God is Good

Although the nights have been a bit chilly, our days are rather warm and pleasant. Soft breezesblow through the banana trees...it doesn't feel a speck like December does in America. But, inspite of the distinct lack of the normal holiday coolness and the sparkling snow, we still feel thespirit of unselfish giving in the air.Just as our motorbike was on it's last legs, and ready to retire, a very generous donation camein for a new one! So, last week, Sarah, Travis, Destiny and I headed to Mae Sot on a grandshopping excursion. Destiny and I rode in the trailer while Sarah and Travis rode our ailingmotorbike. When we came to the first steep hill, Travis gave it all he had, but pretty soon wewere swerving all over the road, trying to keep going forward, and finally he turned themotorbike sideways in the road as it came to a pathetic halt. It didn't take much prompting for usto all tumble out, and begin our hike up the hill. Nobody wanted to ride back down that mountainon an out of control motorbike and trailer going backwards! Travis was then able to coax themotorbike to the top of the hill, pushing with his feet to encourage it. Unfortunately, this becamestandard procedure on each steep hill we came to. We were rather relieved when we were ableto leave the steep mountains behind.As we pulled into the guest house in Mae Sot, we could not help but notice that there weresome foreigners gazing out their window at us. That was not all that unusual, so we jumped offthe motorbike, primped a little, then I headed over to the office to get a room. On my way over, Inoticed another foreigner staring intently at me. That is strange I thought...I wonder if the tripwas harder on me than I imagined? I knew that I was speckled with mud, and dust covered myclothes and hair, but what is so unusual about that?I paid for our room, and then turned to go back to where everyone was waiting for me, only todiscover Sarah hugging the foreigner I had seen in the window! Wow...Sarah is usually prettyshy!!! As it turned out, that foreigner was a good friend of Sarah's from AFCOE, and the othersthat I had seen were part of a group that was in Thailand doing evangelism. They told us thatwhen they saw us pull in, they just knew we were Adventists. We spent a delightful week ofgreat Christian fellowship with them. They drew us in just like family.When we received the donation for the motorbike, I was not sure what to do because they hadsent too much money. But, when we went to buy our bike, we found out that we did not have toomuch money, we had been sent the exact amount needed for the bigger bike. Goes to showthat even if I don't know the current prices of motorbikes, God does!The next miracle in my story was that when we got to the dealership, we asked them if we couldbuy the motorbike using our passports. They told us that we would need a Thai person to helpus. So, Travis picked up the phone to call Phimpa and Rodney. Now, they live clear on the otherside of the country, and they do not get over to our area very often, but just at that moment, theywere rapidly approaching Mae Sot in their truck. So, they came to the dealership, and 20minutes later, we were the proud owners of a brand new motorbike! Isn't God amazing? Not justa plain motorbike either. Because it is Christmas time, they put a basket on the front of the bike,special handle grips, a rack and a helmet, coat, and a fan for our house...all "Christmaspresents from Honda". Wow...now we have a super nice motorbike! 

 I am always so humbled by how God deals with us, his children. I think that he must have justas much fun preparing these surprises for us as we have in getting them. God knows our needs, and he delights to give us more than we could ever ask or think. Praise God from whom allblessings flow!