2nd Week-December 2-Dec 9

Week 2 starts out with a lesson FROM GOD (why do I keep needing these?) based on the following:

Pro 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

A. Gene Veal writes: "The opposite of grumbling is TRUST. It is one or the other. It is a choice you have to make. The grumbler is the person who is only happy when things are pleasing him, when things make sense to his brain, when all circumstances fit in with his idea of how things ought to be. He has become the center of his universe. Whereas, the Christian realizes that God is the center of the universe. It can't be both. If I am at the center, then I grumble when things don't go my way. If God is at the center, I stand in inexplicable circumstances and I say, "God, I praise You. You are still there. I praise You because you are God. I praise You because You are wise, even though I don’t understand. You are omnipotent, even though it doesn't look like it at this minute. You are love, I know it, and I trust myself to Your care."

The second week came on with a bang! I came back on Thursday afternoon from taking Debbie to the airport and caught up on some work at the house. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday the Cisne would be closed as our guys were hosting a young peoples gathering in our town from all over the area for about 100 young people. Since we were showing movies we decided to close down the other operation. So I was pretty much thinking we were going to have a boring weekend when Hector asked me Friday if Saturday morning at 7 a.m. I could help them deliver chairs and audio equipment to the complex. So much for sleeping in!

The next morning after helping with the equipment I went to breakfast alone, leaving the guys to work with the young people. I went to my normal restaurant (the only one that serves hash browns)and made my order. I have done so perhaps 40 or 50 times in my visits here this year. Never once have I read the Spanish newspaper in this restaurant. But today something was change.

I heard a loud noise and I turned around to see that, behind me, the waiter had knocked over a small table holding the newspapers. It was very bizarre that he would not get over but I thought nothing of it. But I did think of the newspapers and asked him to hand me one.

He obliged and, on the front page, I couldn't help but notice all the pictures of a mangled bus and very distraught people. Upon reading the article I found that 22 people had died when the bus lost its brakes. Something came over me and I felt the need to carefully consider the possibility of assisting the families. I knew that most do not have transportation or access to transportation. So I immediately set off with Angel who speaks English for some place I didn't know existed just a few minutes beforeon a mission I did not fully understand.

We arrived at the bus accident site and took many pictures including the one below:

Because the accident happened almost 3 hours from the city where the church was located we didn't know where to proceed. We were over three hours from our city when a man at the site told us a family of one of the victims had been there earlier and went on to a hospital still an hour further away. Our choice was to go one more hour to the hospital in the other direction or, go three hours in the opposite direction to the village where the church was located. God led us to the hospital.

When we arrived, we were 30 minutes before visiting hours so we asked the guard if we could talk to anyone who was in the bus accident or their family. He pointed to a man sitting in what looked like an old-fashioned kitchen chair and said he was waiting for an ambulance. Angel asked him if we could talk with the man or his family and the guard allowed us in. The man was in the bus accident and had numerous broken bones. It was over 20 hours since the accident and he had nothing done to him at that point by the doctors. His family was moving him to a hospital closer to their village where they thought he could get better treatment. The ambulance was arriving and they had no way to get home. We offered them a ride and they were very pleased to accept.

During the three-hour ride back to San Marcos where the victims were from, the wife told us that her husbandwho was in the accident sold tacos from a stand on the street. With the numerous broken bones it was obvious that he would not be working for a long time.

Once we arrived in San Marcos we went directly to the church where we met the pastor. He had been following behind the bus in an automobile the night before and observed the crash. We were then taken to a widow's home. Her father, husband and five other family members were killed in the accident. Her son, who was on the bus, was the only survivor from her family. It was very difficult to be there amongst the sadness and grief.

I made arrangements to return the next day for the funeral. As I drove home Angel and I talked about what the families must be going through. We talked about trusting in the Lord during difficult times like these. We talked about not leaning to our own understanding. Because we simply don't understand. We just trust God and his word:

Rom 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

The funeral was incredible. Click on the pictures above to see more pictures of the funeral. 22 people dead, thousands mourn in the streets and many trust in the Lord. But probably not enough.

A mother and three daughters were killed in the accident. Two remaining daughters ages 19 and 21 were all that was left. Their father had died several years earlier. It was so tremendously sad.