Monday, October 11, 2021

The Perils of the Pearl--again: “ We’re about to fall off the mountainside.”

 

While Dave and I lived with the Mwakodis, rain fell in the Taita Hills—a big blessing—but maneuvering The Pearl on roads afterward resembled driving through greased peanut butter.

 

Dave endured more than one anxious moment slipping and sliding up a steep hill through deep gunk. One day he wondered aloud, “Will we ever get to the top of this?”

 

Another day we got a punctured tire, and The Pearl broke down twice.

 

The roads were so bad that at the end of a long day, holding on for dear life, our bodies felt bruised.

 

On days like that, we had to fight through any number of challenges. It was easy to get discouraged.

 

But we couldn’t give up!

 

What we faced those days reminds me of Hebrews 12:1 which tells us to run with perseverance and endurance the race that God has placed before us—and never to give up.

 

There in the Taita Hills, if a family didn’t own a car (and my estimation is that most didn’t), they didn’t need a road so, in that case, Dave just pointed The Pearl in the right direction.

 

One day, with The Pearl chock full of people on our way to a trainee’s host’s home, we had to drive across the steep rock face of a hillside. To my amazement, even though The Pearl tipped at a steep angle, it clung to the rock. The Pearl’s stability and agility astounded me.

 

Eventually we reached the house, perched on a boulder-strewn peak. We dropped off our friend and then, there on that rocky little point, Dave began to turn The Pearl around.

 

I knew it wouldn’t be easy because I couldn’t see any flat ground and the land dropped off in every direction. I had turned to speak to a fellow passenger when suddenly Dave hollered, “Everyone sit perfectly still!”

 

I had never heard him yell like that. Something was wrong.

 

The Pearl faced downhill at a steep angle, toward a deep ravine, and Dave whispered to me,

 

“The Pearl’s about to fall off the mountainside.”

 

It was as if the cords of death surrounded us—sought to entangle us. Destruction overwhelmed us, the cords of the grave coiled around us. But in our distress, we cried out to God for help, and He heard us (Psalm 18:4-6).

 

I could hardly breathe, much less speak, but eventually I pulled myself together enough to ask Dave if we passengers should get out.

 

“No!” he yelled. “Everybody sit perfectly still!”

 

He told me he would put The Pearl in four-wheel drive. I didn’t know what that required, and maybe he didn’t either, but again he warned us not to move.

 

In fact, he himself sat perfectly still.

His face and neck glistened with sweat.

 

When I saw Dave petrified at the wheel,

I envisioned newspaper headlines in Kenya

and across the United States,

“Missionaries die when vehicle plunges off mountain.”

 

I felt faint. I couldn’t watch. I had to look down.

 

After a tense few moments,

by God’s grace and in His power,

Dave composed himself, planned what to do,

no doubt rehearsed in his mind

how to work the clutch,

and then he bravely took action.

 

Seconds later he backed The Pearl up and away from the drop-off in front of us, stopping before it backed too far toward the drop-off behind us.

 

He inched The Pearl back and forth, and kidogo, kidogo—little by little—he turned it around.

 

Our mighty, compassionate God had done for us what He did for David in Old Testament times:

 

He reached down from above,

pulled us away from that precarious,

pointy, mountain peak,

and He took us to a safe place.

He had made our feet, and The Pearl’s wheels,

like a deer that does not stumble;

He helped us stand secure on that steep mountain.

(Psalm 18:16-33)

 

No one said much for the rest of the trip, and it took a long time for my heartbeat to return to normal. (From Chapter 3, Grandma’s Letters from Africa)

 

How precious are the words from Psalm 121:2-3, 8: 

The Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth . . .

will not let you fall. . . .

The Lord guards you as you come and go,

now and forever.

(God’s Word Translation)

 



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