Shipping Day

Sunshine After Rain – A Shipping Tale

Tuesday dawned and we greeted it in a haze of drowsiness. The last few days were packed full of organising, filling boxes, and generally working out what we wanted to come with us to Uganda. The next day two strong men would turn up with a truck to load all our wordly goods, to later put them on a shipping container to send by sea to Mombasa, and then on to Kampala by train and road.

Our bedroom was the next zone to target; cupboards to empty, clothes to sort through, more decisions to make. As I dumped handfuls of coat hangers onto the bed I heard the sound of a downpour. The heavens had opened. The rain was pouring down. Too busy to worry about the weather I continued choosing which tops should make the long journey by plane, by container, or make the somewhat shorter trip to the local charity shop.

It was only as the long day drew to a close that I realised this torrential downpour could cause problems the following day. We didn’t want all of our worldly goods getting drenched before being packaged up for a two-month journey. We didn’t have the mental capacity to worry about it however, and so we set our alarm for 5.45am ready for a final room-by-room check.

The alarm woke us with its merry tune, and as zombies we rose from our comfortable nest, our last night in this bed for a good long time. With mental faculties severely diminished I started to throw the last few bits and pieces into our jumble of goods to ship. It was only after a good hour or two that I looked into the gloriously clear skies. Not only was there no rain – there wasn’t a single cloud in sight. By the time the team arrived to package everything up the ground was mostly dry, and the forecast showed clear skies to follow all day long.

In our befuddled sorting state, with some serious decision fatigue, we hadn’t even thought to stop and pray for good weather for the loading. In Matthew chapter 6, there is an account of Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray. He prefaces the teaching with this statement:

“When you pray, don’t babble on and on as the Gentiles do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!” Matthew 6:7-8 (NLT)

What a wonderful promise. It is incredibly reassuring as we start this move to Uganda, to have the assurance that God knows what we need, even when we are too busy to mention it.

Archives

No Mountain Immovable: How to Activate Your Faith

Leave A Comment