Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

The very first day I came, I had to write down a list of expectations, goals and hopes for the internship. One of the things I wrote down was, “go through a potentially dangerous situation, that I can look back later, and laugh at”. Haha, well it looks like I may have more than one of those when it's all said and done.

Today, I was again making donation runs. After no problems with the first run of the day, I was pulled over the second time I tried to cross with donations. I was told to go back to the states and go through Otay. Sitting in line to get back into the states, I realized that my cell phone was dead. Wanting to make sure someone knew where I was, I drove back to the office and let Geoff know that I was going the other way, and Madi let me borrow her cell phone. I hopped in the van and drove over to the other border crossing. Here, again I was pulled over again. However for the first time since I’ve been here, even though I had donations that needed to be taxed, I was allowed to go through since I explained they were going “a casa de orphanos”. I was able to get back to the orphanage with out any problems. For the third time then I drove up to the states. Since this was the last donation run, I dropped off the van, and loaded up the intern car that I share with Alex. While at the office I was able to pick up a car charger for my cell phone and give Madi’s back to her. Driving back, I get caught in rush hour traffic crossing the border, which is always so much fun. Thankfully, this time I was not pulled over for secondary inspection either. I could almost smell the ocean air as I pulled out onto the road. However, right as I’m about to turn on the international road, that takes me to the orphanage, I see a policeman blocking it off. I take a couple turns and tried to get on from another spot, only to be stopped again. So I reach for my cell phone, only to discover that the charger for some reason isn’t working, and I’m still stuck with a dead phone.

Here, I met a bit of a mental cross road, as I tried to figure out exactly what I should do. I said a quick prayer, and remembered the verse from 1st Corinthians, where Paul explains that the Lord gives us nothing that we cannot handle. At the moment, I took it to mean that I had been given this situation, and that I could figure my way out of it. Remembering the scripture, calmed me down a bit.

My only option available was the “free road”. The very first day I was here, Geoff had taken me on the free road to show me a different part of Tijuana that I hadn’t seen, and also an alternative way to get to the orphanage. Last Thursday, Alex had driven that route coming up from the orphanage to the states, but that’s going the opposite direction fromt the way I needed to go at the moment. After all the initial mental chaos, I tried to just wade east through the traffic. Finally I found the, “free road” without actually taking any real wrong turns. When I saw signs to Rosarito I knew I was home free. As I found the road, I breathed a sigh of relief and actually laughed thinking back to that hope I had for Mexico. I could just imagine Him thinking “wow, Joel you just asked for more than you realize”. While, I haven’t necessarily been a very dangerous situations – I have been in a couple that could have quickly turned sour. Thank God I’ve been spared, so far. With the mindset that everything happens for a reason, I have to wonder what might be in store for me in the future. If I’ve had two driving escapades so far, what will the future hold?