January 17, 2006

All For A Tank Of Gas...

As I was returning from the Seminary today, I noticed that the truck was almost out of gas. Pulling into the nearest gas station, I asked the attendant to abastecer (fill-'er-up, in Portuguese). Yes, we still have gas station attendants here. Yet another aspect of Brazilian culture we like!

As he was filling it up, I checked to make sure the station accepted Visa, as that was the only form of payment I had on me at the time. It did.

After filling up the tank, the attendant took my card, and I waited for the receipt. Shortly, he was back. "Our machine doesn't seem to be working" he informed me. "Do you have any other form of payment."

That was when the fun started. Not having any other options, the only thing to do was to go to the nearest ATM, about 10 minutes away. The attendant was reluctant to let me go, but he really had no other choice.

When I arrived at the shopping center where the ATM is, I discovered that it was down for repairs. "Don't worry" said one of the workers. "There is a machine in the mall that is accepting your kind of Visa." I went inside, and of course it was NOT accepting my kind of Visa.

The only other option that remained was to go to the main bank in downtown Juazeiro. This was not something I looked forward to, but--as I said--it was my only option.

Traffic was moving at the pace if a snail on ritalin. Upon arriving at the bank, I was relieved to see that there were no significant lines. I took out the needed cash, and went back to the truck.

I finally arrived at the gas station--an hour-and-a-half after I had left. The attendant was there waiting for me, a huge look of relief on his face. As I pulled up to him, I rolled down the window and said "You weren't expecting me to come back, were you?"

"Man, I kept looking at my watch and wondering" was his reply. "Thank you so much for coming back. Not everyone would have done that."

As I handed him the cash, he repeated "God bless you!" over and over again. As I was about to tell him that it was only because of the inworking of the Holy Spirit that there was anything good in me, a car pulled up and he went to attend it.

I am hoping to follow up with him. God used a major inconvenience to open up an opportunity, and I do not want to miss it.

Posted by Andrew on January 17, 2006 7:02 PM.