Christians know that God is still in the miracle business in our lives, every day, 24 / 7 / 52. When His work really stands out, the world often tries to reduce it to a "coincidence" or "accident" which Christians know is just the world trying to keep God anonymous. This trip, which has a big God component in it (Christopher's preaching and teaching in France), seems to have more than it's share of God things already. The snippets below are a few of them. If you're already a believer, you'll probably smile when you read them. If you aren't yet a believer, then you can skip this page because, to paraphrase a Jeep slogan, "It's a God thing, you wouldn't understand."
(Most recent posts first.)
"You can't reserve a pitch." "Your reservation is confirmed." CN writes: Surprisingly I don't have a long list of must-sees and must-dos for this trip. I'm happy to kinda float along (literally) where God and Le Petit Chateau take me. But it can't be coincidence that the first weekend after I pick up Kelli in Lyon they're running the most famous car race in the world just 295 miles from Lyon. I'm talking about, of course, the Monaco Grand Prix which is last race on the planet where they race Formula cars on city streets. Thanks, God for making the dates work out. But I think to myself, that's going to be a very busy weekend on the French Riveria so I better make reservations in a campgorund now. Using the vast power of the Internet and my limited knowledge of French, I discover a website for a four-star campground outside Nice. I email them asking to reserve a pitch for a few days on race weekend. Several minutes later I finally figure out that I could have actually made a reservation online. So I do that too and the instant reply is (I'm translating:) "Your request is being processed, we'll write you in a few days if we can confirm it." A few days later I get a reply to my original email to the campground that says they can't reserve a pitch for only 3 days -- has to be a week or more -- but "don't worry, there will be plenty of space, just come on over and we should be able to accomodate you." I'm thinking, don't they realize that's race weekend?! But I give it to God, "You decide if we are supposed to get a pitch when we get there. In fact, if you don't want us to go there at all, make that plain too, please." The very next day, I get a response to my online reservation request. It's been processed and approved and confirmed! So our first weekend in France together, Kelli and I are gonna be in Monaco for the Grand Prix!
"Your European liability insurance is denied." CN writes: We wouldn't dream of driving in the US without liability insurance. Same goes for Europe. Plus it's a strictly enforced law in France. No problem the books say, just get it in place with a US insurance company before you go. So that's what I did. Although not far enough in advance, apparently. While I'm en route to the docks in Georgia, I get an email from the only US underwriter that provides short-term coverage to Americans driving their own vehicles abroad that my requested insurance is denied. Because of some little niggle about one of the people in the traveling party having received a speeding ticket for going more than 20 miles over the limit. In a burnt-orange sports car. No names please. But, hey, no problem. I've got a cell phone in the RV and Internet access, I'll just get coverage from another underwriter. But each insurance broker I call says they use AIG and it was AIG that denied coverage. No problem, I'll just ask AIG to cover just me as the only driver. Nope. If the scofflaw is in the vehicle even as a passenger they won't write the coverage. (I guess they figure she'll egg me on to break the speed limes in France.) No problem, one of the brokers I contact has "an inside contact at AIG" and she'll make the coverage happen, Mr. Nater. Ummmm, sorry that didn't work, either. No problem, I'll just email every RV dealer I can locate in France and England and ask them where their customers get insurance. 18 such emails result in zero positive responses. Now I've only got 1 more option: give it to God and let Him figure it out. At first my prayer was "Please get us insurance, Lord." But about an hour later while listening to Skip Heitzek MP3 sermons, my prayer matures to "Lord, solve this problem the way YOU want it solved, please. If you want me to do some work for you in France, then please get us insurance. If you DON'T want me to work for you in France, then shut the insurance door and I'll be happy because that means you have something even better in store for me and Kelli." I don't know if repeating a prayer amps up its power (Bible implies it's the opposite) but I kept praying it anyway. That afternoon, a thought came to me to ask my ocean shipping agent for a recommendation of an insurance agency in the US. I start that process by looking for the shipping broker's phone number which means calling up my shipping documents which are a 2-page PDF file on my laptop. When the pages come up, however, for some reason ("coincidently" "accidentally") I can't get the page with his phone number to open up; the computer seems stuck on the second page which just has stupid FAQs.... like "Do I have to have liability insurance to drive in Europe?" Hmmmmm, maybe God wants me to read this. I read their answer: "Yes you must have liability insurance. We suggest you get it at the docks in Europe where it's called "green card" insurance. Our experience is it's too problematical to get insurance from a US carrier before you leave home." How did I miss that before? Was it even there before? I nearly knock over my laptop grabbing for my cell phone to call the broker in California. He's there, he answers his phone, he confirms what's on the documents. I hit my knees and thank God for solving this problem for me. Plus, it's even the way I wanted it solved! So I'm reading this as a huge God-thing... that God has something He wants me to do for him in France. Can't wait to see what it is.
"Your hold-down strap didn't catch fire, it just melted." It never occurred to me that I was courting a serious fire buy not noticing that the exhaust pipe dumped the hot gases directly against my rear carrier. Instead of catching the tarp on fire, or the raw plywood beneath it, God had the nylon strap MELT which brought it to my attention without much loss so I could correct the problem before it was WAY worse. Thanks, Lord. I'm marking that down as another God-thing.
"The perfect RV is waiting for you online, Christopher." I asked God to show me that he wanted to bless this big adventure by putting the exact RV we need for the trip in front of me at the right time and at the right price. If not, then I'll read that as the Lord closing the door on this adventure. In the space of 2 weeks, God led me to an arcane web site for Toyota motorhomes (usually He works through eBay, BTW...) where there was exactly ONE Toyota that was the right age, size and condition. And it was nearby(California). I got to know the owners through emails and when I flew out to pick it up, the rig was exactly as promised (better, to be precise) and the owners were really super people to whom I got to witness. Accident? Coincidence? I don't think so. Can't wait to see how God plans to use the RV for His glory in Europe.
