(I prepared this message on December 5, 2013, but somehow failed to send it out. So here it is:)
One of my greatest joys is responding to invitations of pastors of small, struggling churches in difficult areas. Since most of them can call a special service on a week night I am happy to fill my week nights wherever.
Brother Torientino, at the keyboard here is trying to get something started on a corner in the Buenos Aires suburb of Garin.
One of my greatest joys is responding to invitations of pastors of small, struggling churches in difficult areas. Since most of them can call a special service on a week night I am happy to fill my week nights wherever.
Brother Torientino, at the keyboard here is trying to get something started on a corner in the Buenos Aires suburb of Garin.
On my way back to my temporary apartment at midnight I suddenly encountered both lanes of the freeway totally blocked with dozens, maybe hundreds of stopped trucks. I did not know whether there was an accident or what, but noticed that the driver in front of me stopped to talk to one of the truck drivers standing around… and then squeaked between two trucks to the grass alongside the freeway. I followed. The bank was tipped steeply, but we went ahead several hundred yards and managed to get off on a ramp. From there we drove on side roads for a long ways and then had to turn back as that road was also blocked with a huge pile of junk. I tried another one. It was also blocked and this time there was a large bonfire burning with picketers blocking the only escape route. So again I turned back, searched and found another road that went many miles out of my way. At least it went somewhere! And by now I was part of a train of cars and huge trucks trying to get somewhere… anywhere!
On top of all this my GPS froze up and had to be restarted. It did
no good anyway since I was nowhere on any database map. These “roads” were not
roads that merited mention on the database.
Obviously the pickets were well organized and had deliberately blocked
practically every possible exit from that area. Now I was on a road that
was not really a road. Huge trucks were crossing a fragile narrow bridge
with no railing… I followed. Huge holes were everywhere.
So much dust filled the air one could see very little. I passed one poor
guy whose nice car had fallen into a huge ditch. He was standing there
holding his head in his hands. It would take a tow truck or tractor to
get him out, so I passed him by. Within an hour of following this train
of vehicles we all finally escaped back onto the freeway on the other side of
the pickets!
By 2 AM I was back in my apartment. But I am sure that
I was very fortunate, because as I was driving parallel to the freeway many
of those miles, I could see the blocked freeway from several places in my
extended “tour” and many cars were trapped between miles and miles of huge
trucks and had no way to escape. Those unfortunate ones were probably
there all night!
The problem of pickets in Argentina is very serious. They apparently have complaints and are trying to
stop the entire country from functioning just to be heard. They seem very
proud of themselves if they make enough trouble to get TV or front-page
coverage. I am told that some unions or political organizations
actually support full-time picketers that organize and do this regularly.
It is their “job”. And they go about seeking which locations to block
when trucks are trying to bring supplies into the city or at peak hours of
traffic.
It is so sad to see what seems
to be, at least on the surface, a deliberate, organized attempt to stop the
country’s forward progress. I guess this is better than terrorism, since
they at least are not killing each other… yet.
Enough negative talk. It is not just Argentina. It is a
world that is rejecting God. And while it squirms and twists and in its
struggle to survive, God still reaches deep into hurting and broken hearts to
bring many into His glorious gift of salvation.
Ralph
