Lost in Translation

I just realized that my blog could serve as a repository for sermon illustrations, saving them under the appropiate tag. Of course the beauty of a good story is that it can be morphed to illustrate various truths.

Yesterday afternoon I went to pick up a missionary family from the airport who had come in from Leticia. There were six in total and as I went to shut the back of the mission van one of the kid's head was in the way. I waited for him to move but because he was still close I didn't slam it shut.

As we were tooling along at around 70 km/h on the Avenida El Dorado (one of the nicest in Bogota to give visitors a good first impresion I'm sure) all was well. The family was happy. I was happy. My friend Wilder was sleeping because he had been up almost all night at a retreat out at camp.

I went to pull off the inner lanes into the outer lanes and heard a whoosh, looked back, and to my horror saw that the van door had conveniently opened and it looked as if several suitcases had flown out. I slammed on the brakes, ran at full speed to grab the suitcases. Thankfully the beautiful silver Mercedes right behind us had slammed on its brakes and the driver and his wife were laughing. I apologized profusely and ran back with the escapee in hand.

It turns out that only one suitcase flew out, and the family said that it was the most beat-up one they own. I learned that even if all looks good, it's always good to double check!