Busted!

Well, as I said in my last entry, everything (including me) got here just fine! I can't tell you how happy these teachers are to have an actual laser printer in the computer lab! Both computers are up and running with the Spanish version of Windows XP, and they both have CD burners on them. One even has a DVD player on it. These are things that Shalom's computer lab has never seen before. The writing tablets a really cool. If you don't know what a writing tablet is, it's a flat piece of plastic that you plug up to your computer, and when you use a special pen to write on it, it shows up on the computer. I can�t wait to see what some of these kids are going to draw.

Parking at Shalom has always been an adventure. Before I came to the States, every morning, we would park at the Shalom house which is right next door to Shalom. We weren't able to park in Shalom's own parking lot because that is where the kids play for recreation. When I came back from the States, for whatever reason, we weren't allowed to park at the Shalom house anymore, so they told us to park on the side street of Shalom.

There just so happens to be a neighbor of Shalom (who lives right behind the school) that HATES Shalom church and school. He treats the people that live next to Shalom and are hired to be the door keeper, so badly. He threatens them and all kinds of bad stuff. We just need to pray for this guy.

Yesterday started off kind of weird. I was driving Mark to Shalom and for the first time I have ever known Mark, he was silent, and he didn't try to fill the silence with the radio or talking. For those of you who know me well, you know that I could be in the same room or car with someone else and not say a single word and be completely comfortable. But for other people, silence is something that makes them uncomfortable. Mark is one of those people. It's kind of funny sometimes while we�re driving in complete silence, I will see him out of the corner of my eye just squirming around in his seat. It�s quite obvious that he doesn't like silence. :p I love you Mark! Anyways, this particular morning, Mark was dead silent.

Once we got to the place where we turn into the school, I came to a stop and waited for a break in oncoming traffic. For those of you who have been to Shalom before know that the turn-in is kind of a blind curve and is very dangerous. Since the speed limits here aren't enforced, people drive as fast as they want. Well, finally there is a break in traffic, but there is this motorcycle that is coming kind of slowly, but I already started to pull out. As I was stuck in the middle of oncoming traffic, the motorcycle seemed to get slower and slower. Suddenly, two cars just absolutely flying, appear from behind the curve and are headed right towards us. Guatemalan driving is kind of messed up. You see, even though I was clearly stuck in the middle of their lane, they threw caution into the wind and did not slow down at all. Eventually, the motorcycle passes at the slowest speeds I have ever seen in Guatemala, and I start to gun it, but there are kids blocking the pull-in of the school. With the cars mere feet away from each other and the oncoming car still going the same fast speed, we hear a sudden SCREEEEEEECH! (Which was my nickname in High School by the way.) All the kids suddenly see what�s going on and jump out of the way. From my view, it looked like the Red Sea parting. So I gunned it in between the kids running in either direction, and the car missed us by mere INCHES while it was still screeching. This kind of put me in a weird mood for that morning, but Mark was assuring me that it wasn�t my fault and that made me feel better. I parallel parked my car on that side street in front of Mark�s office and headed to class.

In class I talk to the kids about how they should still be praying for the new computers to come and Antonio read them the first part of Luke 18 about the unjust judge who didn't care about people or God and wouldn't give the widow justice, but since she kept coming to him, he finally gave her justice. Then it goes on to say that if an unjust judge gives justice, think how much more God will, so it's important to continue to pray.

After school that day, I went to go get Mark, but before I went to his office, I stopped by my car to drop off some stuff. When I opened the door of my car, I noticed shards of glass resting in my seat. When I turned to the driver�s seat window, it was intact and fine. "Where did that come from"� I thought as I closed the car door and looked at the windshield. Then I saw what had caused the glass shards in my seat. The windshield of the car had been busted in. I immediately thought it was a brick from the construction of the school rooms above the car, but there were no blocks or anything big enough to break a windshield lying around the car.

Completely confused, I found my way to Mark's office and as soon as he opened the door, I told him about the windshield. He was like, "What!?" and ran outside to examine the damage. We asked Martin, (the guy who lives next to and works for Shalom,) what could have happened. He said that the guy who hates Shalom also hates that we park on the side street for whatever reason. He said it was most likely him trying to �send us a message.� We got that message alright!

What was my first thought? - Let's go show this little Guatemalan some Americano force!� Then God was like, "Oh sure, that's really Christ-like." I was like, "You know, You're right God. That guy has nothing to look forward to except your terrible wrath!� Then God was like, "Ok, Sam. That's not very Christ-like either." Then God reminded me of the verse that says (in paraphrase,) "If you only love those who love you, then what makes you different from unbelievers?"

As Mark and I got into the car and shut the doors, tiny, sharp shards of glass fell onto our arms and legs from the impact point on the windshield. As we pulled out of Shalom every bump in the road caused more shards to fall on us. God was teaching me something in this moment. "Jesus commanded us to love the unlovable; He commanded us to love the very ones who hate us, He commanded us to love our enemies." As the sharp shards of glass kept falling on us, God asked me, "Can you love that guy who smashed your windshield out of hatred?� I was speechless, but God asked me again, "Can you love that man?... I do." God really changed my heart in that moment. "Yes God, I can, and I do. I hope he comes to the saving knowledge of Your perfect grace." Then God put a new verse into my head, "Love covers a multitude of sins."

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