In his book, "God is Closer than you Think" John Ortberg writes the following; "You have to believe that God has a good reason for keeping his presence subtle. It allows creatures as small and frail as human beings the capacity for choice that we would never have in the obvious presence of infinite power….God wants to be known, but not in a way that overwhelms us….You never know where he'll turn up, or whom he'll speak through, or what unlikely scenario he will use for his purpose." (God is Closer Than You Think Copyright © 2005 by John Ortburg) The unlikely scenario God showed up in recently was one I don't think I will ever forget. We ware travelling back from Nu Poh Refugee Camp after spending a week completing primary healthcare checks on the children in the two projects Partners supports there. It had been an excellent but tiring week and we were all looking forward to getting back for a hot shower and a good night sleep. The journey from Nu Poh to Mae Sot takes about 6 hours and goes through the Umphang mountains – a long and windy road infamously known as the Death Highway (it apparently has 1219 turns and you can buy various souvenir items to show that you drove and survived it). We and all our baggage were packed into two trucks – Kath, Brandon, Pastor Peacefully and pastor Newton in the front vehicle and Wes and I following behind. The first hour or so passed by uneventfully, but then our truck began to struggle. Halfway up a steep incline, our truck suddenly lost power - even in low gear we were barely moving. With some effort and a lot of willing, we managed to reach flat ground and pull the truck over. The car had died and a little red light on the dash had come on. Kath's truck in front had gone on ahead and so there Wes and I were - stuck on the side of a mountain with no phone reception and virtually no mechanical know-how between us.
We lifted the bonnet, got out the manual and were still completely clueless. However, the scenery was incredible and we decided that if we had to break down anywhere, this was a great place for it to happen. Ten minutes or so later, Kath had realised we were no longer behind her and had come back to see if we were OK. So instead of two people on the side of the road scratching their heads (and admiring the view), there were now six! We looked again at the manual and I read out the part that talked about the little red light … "If this light comes on, stop the vehicle immediately and call out a Toyota engineer". What chance was there of getting a qualified Toyota engineer out here in the middle of the Death Highway? photo: Looking into the bonnet, even though we don't have a clue!
Just then four OEM truck drove past in the opposite direction. (OEM is the organisation that helps refugees 
move to a third country). They pulled over on the other side of the road and we were suddenly surrounded by four very confident looking Thai guys. One in particular seemed to know exactly what to do – he opened this, pulled that and twiddled a few things here and there. Then he got into the truck and drove it off down the road. I tried hard not to look too concerned! However, little did I know at the time that this moment was, in fact, the divine providence of God. When the guy drove the truck back to us, he told us that he had fixed the problem and we would get back to Mae Sot without a problem. He then continued to tell us that he has only been working as an OEM driver for a short time, before that he had been a qualified Toyota Engineer! Was that just a coincidence? I think not… photo: The four OEM trucks, our rescuers.
After paying our new friends for their kindness in Oreos and smiles, we jumped back into the trucks and went on our way home. It struck me as we continued our journey that if we had left the camp just fifteen minutes or so later, we would have missed out meeting those OEM trucks. God had met with us in the most unexpected of places, through a Thai Buddhist ex-Toyota engineer.