The River

New Day Orphanage is in between two rivers that, during the dry season have little to no water, but during the rainy season, can be a real problem. Even it doesn't rain where we are, if it is raining in other parts of the country, the river can fill up and flow over the bridges trapping us in.

Yesterday was one of those days. We had planned to go to Choma to buy groceries, but our plan was not God's plan. When we came out onto the dirt road, we saw a busload of people standing around.  Our first thought, a broken down bus, But when we looked to the right, we saw that the bridge closest to New Day was covered. The buses often sit all day waiting for the water to go down.

We had two options, to turn left and go to Choma via Pemba or to go back home. We asked the bus driver, assuming he had just come from Pemba, if we could cross the second bridge? He said yes, and off we went. About 20 minutes later we arrived at the second bridge. To our surprise, the bridge was covered and the water was moving fast. Lots of people were standing around, and when we looked more closely at the situation, we knew that something had happened.

Mulenga, who was with us, saw someone he knew so he went to inquire about the situation. Sure enough, a vehicle, about the size of ours, had attempted to cross and had been swept away by the current. From what we were told, three people had died and two had survived. The passengers had tried to convince the driver not to cross, and an argument had followed. The driver would not listen, and so the others finally gave in. It breaks my heart to think of the families that have lost their loved ones because of the
stubborn attitude of the driver.

This story reminds me of how stubborn we can all be at times--refusing to listen to the Lord because we think "we" know best. We get ourselves into so many problems when we don't listen to the voice of caution that warns us to stay away from sin. My prayer is that I will not be like this stubborn man, refusing to listen to the voice of wisdom.