Robbed!

                So it turns out that my 4 year old iPhone [that you have to push the central button 20 times before it acknowledges your efforts and that has a battery that runs out before the end of a normal residency work day] is worth $200-$300 (more than how much I paid new) in Peru.  I put my cell phone down for a second when I was on call because an emergency came in the door and then another.  When I reached for my phone it was gone.  Thanks to God and the video camera the thief finally returned my phone (though he denied it a million times, he was stuck when he, his mom, and his aunt were forced to watch the video of him stealing the phone).

                I decided this whole ordeal was God’s pretest for my Lent commitment of giving up self vengeance/ justice taken into my own hands.  So I gave my phone to the Lord and didn’t expect to get it back, and entrusted vengeance to the Lord.  I thought I did well, and then I realized that was just round one. The next day due to circumstances out of my control I had to take a bus to Cusco after 7 PM.  That meant we got into Cusco after 10PM. The Hospital security guard who had given me a ride to the taxi stop kept telling me that I’d get robbed if I took the bus.  With no other option I got on the bus and told him to pray for me.  He yelled back as the doors were closing to not leave the bus terminal on foot for any reason.  I spent the whole bus trip praying and rearranging my valuable so that the most important things to get out of the country (i.e. my passport, cards, and immigration document) where hidden closest to me amount my stuff.  Praise God I got off the bus and into a taxi which took me to my hostel without any glitches.

                So I made it to Houston, Texas where the Brinkleys live (my Texas family who the Lord provided me with as spiritual and emotional support while I was in Medical School in the DFW area).  It was a blessing to blend into the crowd and not be noticed for 4 whole days.  I was able to get a longer tourist visa when I came back into the country and I have my appointment with Immigration next week in Lima.

                While I was with the Brinkley’s they treated me out to the new movie “Son of God.”  It was wonderful.  It’s based on the format of the book of John.  Becky made the comment that she wished they’d not spent so much of the movie on the last week---a thought that had passed through my mind a couple times through the movie.  But I realized that though I didn’t like watching that part, that’s the part that challenges me the most and sets the best example for how I should act in hard situations.  Parables are nice cuz they don’t push you unless you let them.  Jesus walking through the last week with love for his killers and no desire for vengeance (if anything, his last prayer was that God would forgive his murders; which if that happened then God wouldn’t “remember” the incident and justice may not actually be given in the end) challenges me more and inspires me more, and makes it easier to make choices within his will than a million “nice parables” or even the sermon on the mount.