Roadblocks

For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;

They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.  Psalm 91:11-12

We’ve said it over and again that every day in this calling presents a new adventure. Sometimes it’s an adventure as light as watching a toddler throw a tantrum while waiting three hours with his mother in the bank line. Other days it’s the extraordinary and unexpected.

I (Marty) returned from the USA a couple of weeks ago and team mate Michael Gayheart flew from Pucallpa to meet me in Lima. We were to drive the Gayhearts’ truck, our old Land Cruiser, back to Pucallpa across the mountains. As we were loading the truck Dena called from Pucallpa to urgently tell us that the papers indicated the coca growers’ strike was back on and that they were blocking the highway at Aguaytía on the jungle side of the Andes Mountains. We would not be able to make the trip. Michael had flown to Lima for nothing. We hurried to the airline office and bought tickets to fly to Pucallpa that evening. The truck stayed in Lima.

By mid-week the following week, it was clear that the coca growers’ protest was not going to materialize after all. So with much deliberation we bought tickets to return to Lima on Thursday. Back in Lima we loaded the truck and after a few hours of shopping for some needed items, we headed out toward the mountains. The first day’s travel was uneventful and we arrived midway at the city of Huánuco to stay at the home of some missionary friends of the Gayhearts. Next morning we headed out right on schedule. This day’s travel went pretty normally until we came upon some road construction that left us sitting for two hours, losing precious time to be able to get home before nightfall. Passing this we felt we were on the home-stretch.

Eventually we came to the city of Aguaytía where the coca growers had been protesting. Entering the city we saw many signs of the protest: tree trunks on the roadway, round black stains on the asphalt where tires had been burned, and many rocks strewn here and there. However, there were no protesters so we breathed easier. On the other side of the city as we headed out toward Pucallpa, however, we came to burning tires in the road. We had just passed a policeman sitting in his car by the road so I said to Michael, “We have to go back and ask the policeman if there is danger up ahead, it’s his job to know.” So returning to the policeman I asked him if it was safe to go ahead. He said, “Sure, there’s no problem, you can pass right on through.”

We went around the burning tires and began to see many rocks on the road. People were standing around nearby businesses watching us go by as if wondering why we were attempting it. Soon we came to many trucks jumbled up in a standstill waiting on the road to open: there was an obvious road blockage somewhere so we knew the striking was back on. To the sides there were a number of police or military soldiers in camouflage with semi-automatic rifles that were clearing the bluff above the road-cut. We waited to see what would happen, figuring we would have to go back to Aguaytía to wait it out and have to suffer the shame of having acted too quickly after a major protest.

Then something happened. All the soldiers emerged from the woods and nearby businesses and ran to their trucks. The truck drivers all mounted their vehicles and started their engines. The traffic was about to move. As the line of trucks moved out toward Pucallpa, I pulled our vehicle over to one of the commanders of the soldiers and asked if it was safe to go. He assured us that it was but gave no explanation as to what was really happening. So Michael and I fell into the convoy and proceeded with caution, but glad to be going somewhere.

Shortly we passed a point where there were soldiers in the road pointing their rifles at the bluffs and looking very serious behind their sweaty faces and fatigues. Later the soldiers overtook the trucks again and hurried to the next small town where they stationed themselves to protect the convoy as it moved through. And so it went for some 100 kilometers, from town to town, military protection, the soldiers advancing, and the convoy easing cautiously through. In one town called Huipoca (wee-POK-ah), we came to a stop beneath a bluff from which protesters were throwing rocks. They were pelting some trucks ahead of us so we didn’t know whether to advance, wait or go back. Suddenly the rocks started landing closer to us, hitting the truck right in front of us. I yelled at Michael to move away from the window. As the rocks came close I figured that if they were moving our direction, I’d better advance and get past them, so I floored the accelerator and got the old truck moving as quickly as possible. As we passed this zone, two rocks smashed into our vehicle with loud thuds and we quickly put distance between us and protesters.

Thankful to be past that place, we used our frequent stops to wait on delays in the convoy line to check the top of the truck. No dents. Wow! It was as if the Lord had shielded us. I commented to Michael that surely what we heard was the sound of the rocks hitting the hedge of protection set up by the Lord.  Later closer inspection would show that there was not a scratch on the truck anywhere!

We eventually left the protest zones behind and were free to cruise on home. It was some time before we came into a cell phone zone where we could call home and tell our wives why we were several hours late. Dena and Crystal had been praying fervently for our protection during the entire ordeal.

Reflecting afterward it was readily apparent to us that the Lord had intervened in our situation to get us home safely. Had we not been delayed by construction we would have arrived long before the military escort arrived. Had the policeman not said to go on through, we might have returned to Aguaytía and waited, not knowing what to do next. Had we arrived a little later, we might have proceeded with no police protection, or we might have turned around. We had arrived just at the right time and been given just the right instructions to get into a convoy of commercial trucks with military protection. God is so good and faithful to us at every turn. He is trustworthy in every situation and we know that the prayers of faithful friends back home are a significant part of the equation.

God’s hand ordering our steps:  making major obstacles to be simply daily adventures.
Psalm 37:23 says If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm.  Psalm 85:13 says Righteousness goes before him and prepares the way for his steps.