Saturday, October 12, 2013

Borders, Blowouts and Banditos Part 1

This could be a movie.  I think we should ask Bruce Willis or Mel Gibson to play the part of John Vandermark.   Tim, who was driving the overloaded semi should be played by Sam Elliot and Pablo could easily be the Hispanic actor in Courageous.  (You know, the hilarious guy who pretends to be a member of the Snakes Gang.)  The only reason that Hollywood wouldn’t pick this up is because the power of God, integrity, perseverance, and obedience flow through the story like a river.  It appears to be an action flick but in reality it is a demonstration of how God works through the obedience and intense prayers of His people.  He will get His work done here on Earth through willing, Spirit Filled, Christ Followers.  Of course there is much comic relief in the story, especially if you are sitting around the table after dinner and John and Tim are telling the story.  It seems to get funnier each time it is relived by these two.

In the middle of September John planned a caravan to run all the way from Pennsylvania to Belize, over 3,000 miles.  It could take anywhere from seven days to two weeks.  Included in the caravan were three different entities.  John and Bridge the Gap, Pablo who represented another individual, and the Christian Mission Technical Services, (CMTS).  There were six “adventurous and sturdy” men willing to make the trip.  The vehicles included a box truck with our Bronco attached to the back, a semi truck carrying a very low bed, and a-Nissan Path Finder.There was a variety of cargo that ranged from huge 30,000 pound bulldozer with blade, two dining room sets, a huge industrial sized stove, a massive stainless steel sink, boxes of clothes, books, Tupperware, bedding, computers and much more.  Oh, let’s not forget the few innocent (and not so innocent) items from the Lucas household, including a washer and dryer, five ceiling fans, tools, a few tubs of school supplies and kitchenware.

BARKING DOGS
The story begins even before John arrived in the states.  He was helping some friends out by transporting their two Doberman Pincers from Belize to Atlanta.  One is a docile, well behaved, older female and the other is a bouncy, exuberant, vocal, happy, male who is less than a year old. Let’s just say that some really nice medication was used to help him through. (Of course I’m talking about the male dog, not John).   They were to be dropped off at the airport for the owners to pick up.  Unfortunately, there was a hitch in communications at the airport.  The tag said the final destination was to be Pennsylvania but it was specified that the dogs were to stay in Atlanta.  After much friendly deliberation there seemed to be no satisfying the airport staff except to give them $250.00 more to hold the dogs in Atlanta.  Now, John is a patient man, but all this friendly deliberation did not seem to include common sense on the part of the airport staff.  So, as nicely as he could John said “They’re not my dogs, you keep them.”  After which he just walked away.  The airport staff were quite unprepared for this remark and had to “back up the ship” for a moment.  Now remember all of this is happening right in the middle of the airport with people stopping to take in this scene of two overwrought dogs in large crates, who are now fully alert and ready to get out.  And an ever increasing crowd of airport staff and this man from Belize. Finally, as John was walking away his cell phone rang and it was the owners.  After he talked to them he turned around and went back to the dogs.  They were on the way to get the dogs and pay the extra $250.  John, who prefers not to look like a saint, did have thoughts of flipping the latches of the crates and letting the Dobermans free in the airport.  But that didn’t happen.  (But it would have in the movie.)

BEGINNING THE TRIP
After finally getting to Harrisburg, John met up with Tim (who has a complete story of his own) and began organizing all the people, paperwork and cargo.  This was no easy feat. Trucks had to be loaded and machinery had to put together and then loaded on the low-bed trailer, which ended up being only six inches from the ground.  This of course, wasn't going to pass any safety inspections, so they had to work on the trailer to get it up higher.  John said something about replacing tires and suspension bags and they got it to 12 inches off the ground.  While all this is going on there is paperwork being processed for these vehicles to travel through five states and three different countries.  John had to rely on many different individuals to do their part for all of this to work.  All the while there is a pressing time issue because no one wants to travel through Mexico during optimal bandit-hijacking time periods.  Even if everything went well from this point on the stress involved with all these tasks is huge.

BY THE WAY, THERE WERE MIRACLES
At this point I wanted to share two miracles that occurred for John.  He had to get his commercial drivers license renewed before he could drive.  Not a problem, until you get to the “passing the physical” part.  John is colorblind and has a few high blood pressure issues.  Not sure why, but he drank a pitcher of iced tea just before they took his blood pressure which is usually around 130 over 85.  When the nurse was done she just said “118 over 62”.  John is thanking God but still a bit nervous because he knows that he must pass the color test.  He has had to do this in the past and he knows that there are patterns of colored dots that you must be able to identify.  When they went through the pages John could see every pattern!  Thank you God!

BRAKES
So finally, after hours of hard work and preparation the caravan set off down the freeway.  All was going well until the brakes went out on the semi.  Tim didn’t know this until the group pulled off for a planned stop.  They were all up ahead at a four-way stop and he was quickly gaining on them without the ability to stop.  (At this point I am envisioning scenes from the movie Convoy with Kris Kristopherson.  Some of you may know what I’m talking about.) The guys up ahead  had no way of knowing that Tim couldn't stop.  He had only one option, to go to the left and on around them.  If he would have went right he would have ended up in the woods, wrapped around a tree.  There was one car ahead of the caravan and I’m thinking he must have seen Tim coming up the on-ramp behind him, because he pulled out just as Tim got there.  Tim who was at this point laying on the horn,  just followed the car through the intersection.    I’m sure the guys  had no other choice but to watch in amazement as Tim went barreling on past them, blaring his horn!  He got through the intersection and successfully stopped the truck on the other side.  It was as if a Hollywood director had yelled, “Action!” And the whole scene was being filmed by five different cameras.  But credit needs to go where credit is deserved.  There was no director unless you consider God the director.  At this very moment in Belize, Tim’s wife Carol was on her knees in prayer.  Carol had told me that the Holy Spirit had prompted her to stay home from church with a strong inclination to just pray.  There is no telling how disastrous this could have turned out.  Many people were praying through this whole trip.  As Christians we believe that our prayers touch the very heart of God and hold the same power that Jesus had while on this Earth.  That is called “faith”.

BEING THERE FOR SOMEONE
When the caravan reached Tennessee they knew that there was a resting place in sight.  Some of the people at Greater Life Church in Lexington, were following what was happening with the caravan and were expecting them.  Unfortunately, just as the guys were arriving at Parkers Cross Roads, the semi had a tire blowout.  Which was actually a great place to have this happen.  There is an awesome small business owner who runs a tire shop, with a hand painted sign, back behind the gas station.  This man quickly changed the tire and only charged $45.  His has a great reputation in the Parkers Cross Roads area. 

 Pastor Jamie was there to greet them with traditional southern hospitality.  He fed them Barbecue and put them up for the night in a hotel.  This was very well received and appreciated.

The next day the guys made their way to the Lucas home where the Bronco was waiting for them, stuffed to the gills with Lucas stuff.  Just in front of the Bronco, on the floor of the shop was a pile of items that I really wanted if they could find a place for it.  So they loaded all that stuff, my porch chairs included, on to another truck.  Before they left, Dennis had told them to look around for anything they might have need of.  Not exactly a safe thing to say to these guys.  They spent some serious time trying to figure out how to take the half-restored 1957 Chevy Pickup.  Fortunately, they couldn’t figure out how to get it across the borders. So, after loading our belongings and injuring Felipe on the washer, the caravan started out for the Texas/Mexico border.
  
BORDERS AND BAD GUYS
Timing is everything at border crossings.  There are great amounts of paperwork and inspecting to be done, and this border closes at 3:30. 
The caravan had already been traveling since Saturday and it was Tuesday. That is four days of driving with little rest. The stress, endless driving and lack of sleep had started to take its toll.  The guys had stopped for fuel and snacks.  John had just paid for his things and went for the door.  Just as he reached the door he realized his wallet was still on the counter.  It took less than 12 seconds to get back to the counter, but his wallet was gone.  Besides the $3800 for duty fees, all of John’s required ID was in that wallet.  It was devastating.  He immediately got on the phone to stop use of the credit cards taken.  Later, on the video cameras he got to watch the whole thing happen.  The guy who took it was quick and very good.  They did get his face on camera, so at some point in time it will catch up with him.  So there they were hoping to get across the border, but that wasn't going to happen today.

 Early the next morning, after having a few serious conversations with the CMTS people and Pastor Jamie, John had to go quite a ways out of the planned route to receive money grams that were on the way.  Actually, he had to go over 400 miles, round-trip  in order to get to the Walmart store where the money was. 
(At this point in the story John stops and looks at me,  “You have a very generous church you know.”  We know.) 

John and Tim get back to the border at 3:00, it closes at 3:30.  Never give up! Never give in! This is a good motto for John, so he tries to get across anyway.  God was really showing who is in control because they got through without a hitch.

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