Tuesday, October 25, 2005

SKY IS FALLING

Well let's see, the most significant outage is our phone...
it's been out for a couple of weeks now. Very frustrating.
At first we thought it was all over town.  Then we learned
that it was OUR phone only.  Service is what you might expect
in West Africa...slow.  We solicit prayers that it'll be back
up and running by this week!
 
The water is out as we speak. 
A flat tire earlier in the week.
The bathtub drain valve thingamajig broke 2 weeks ago.
The front gate key snaps in two as we leave for church. 
The AC in our car went out to the tune of $300. 
Two light bulbs burned out yesterday.  AAUUGGHHH!!!
 
Things are just shutting off, breaking down
or falling apart all over the place!  If you're happy
and you know it, clap your hands.
 
Even Timo looked at the sky the other day,
examining the low clouds and said,
"sky is coming down!"
I thought,
"well, that'd fit right in with everything else this week!"
 
Last week, during a pretty nasty storm, I was getting ready
to turn off the transformer/regulator that we have our TV,
stereo and DVD player hooked up to.  Normally, I simply turn
off the power switch during storms.  But as I was looking at it,
I heard that voice urge me to just UNPLUG everything, not
just turning it off.  Within 2 minutes, we heard a loud POP! 
As I opened up the door to inspect the area around the
cabinet where the transformer is, smoke poured out of the
socket where I had things plugged in!  Pretty sure the thing is
fried, and so thankful for those angelic voices who prompt
us with things (prompting the question: does God care about
small things such as protecting my TV from a lightning strike? 
does God care if I get a close parking spot at the mall?
does God care if which team wins the game, even when
people on both sides of the field are hailing up last-minute
pleas for His Sovereign intervention?) 
 
We just sent out an email to several hundred people telling them
that we would no longer send our email updates, but instead
communicate via our blog several times a week...
...the very week that our phone goes dead!  So if you are one
of the newcomers to this blog, don't lose hope.  Don't give up!
Keep checking in!  Hopefully this week, we'll be back up.
 
 
============
 
Another baby dedication tonight.  A little boy this time. 
Name TBD (by 4pm today I'm hoping for a little divine
guidance concerning the name).
 
 
============
 
We DO have some good news concerning the inauguration
of a new church plant in the village of Gbotayidohoue
(we call it "bow-tie" for short).  A huge group of
young people and adults will be baptized later this week. 
More later....
 
-Randy
 
(I am posting this from the phoneline at the Baptist Guesthouse,
in Cotonou, 3 hours away from our home)

6 comments:

Sam said...

That stinks! When did you guys get a mall?

Brooks Inc. said...

rats...reminds me of when of our cable went out! :)

Sam created me a blog and said I have a week to start posting on it or else...I knew you all would laugh outloud at the profile he created for me...We will see if I can make it happen...

stuckinthe80s said...

Your using the Baptist Guesthouse?!?!?!? That sounds like inner-denominational cooperation...AND IT MUST BE STOPPED!!!!

Kidding -- hope things get better over yonder!

Donny - MarketingTwin #2 said...

Randy,

Sorry to hear of the problems. We are certainly praying for you guys. Maybe running streaming audio to your laptop to listen to Cowboys was enough to throw your phone line out of whack!!!

Jim said...

Wow, I can relate - to some extent. We've felt like our lives have been a series of minor disasters lately too. But of course, there's always someone who has it worse! But if I told you you had it worse, would it make you feel better, or feel like sending me a lighting bolt via cyberspace? :)

Anyway, keep blogging - and I hope you can get a few things solved in the days ahead!

Kelly Vaughn said...

Jim,
Thanks for your comments (on previous posts, too). I got a chance to read a little about your ministry in Canada...also, helpful cues on pineapples (Thanks!)...question: why do we cut the core? We cut pineapples similar to the way you describe. But then it occurred to me that we eat the core! Is it dangerous? Or is it just because it is "tough"? I thought about all those horrible canned pineapples and how the core is out. Wish I knew more.
-Randy