January 15, 2013- Tuesday
There is so much of
the “unknown” that comes with the territory of our big adventure. As we walk
blinded by faith, we stumble upon many things we have never experienced before.
It has caused us to put our complete trust in Him. We were
having dinner with our friends last week and chitchatting about the small
things we had questions about pertaining to living overseas. Casually, they
asked us if we have had any of our shots. Shots? What shots? Nobody told us we
needed shots?
We sent an email to
our coworkers asking them if we needed a certain shot called Japanese
Encephalitis. They said, “Yes of course you need this shot!” We thought to
ourselves, “Then why didn’t anyone tell us?!” Haha! Oh the joy of the
unknown!
We learned more
about JE (Japanese Encephalitis). It is a 2 series shot that must be given 28
days apart at $275 a shot. Well… we did not have 28 days… we had 13. We needed
to make a decision with very little time.
Here came the “battle of discernment”. We asked ourselves, “Do we spend
the $1,600 shots will cost, or do we hope that we don’t get sick.” A great
friend of ours joined us in asking Father for guidance and provision and shared
this story with us:
Father told the guy
that the flood was coming and that He would take care of him. Once the flood
began, a man drove up and offered his truck. The guy said, “No I don’t need a
truck, Father will take care of me.” The flood worsened and the guy moved to the
second floor. A man with a boat came by and offered him help. The guy said, “No
I don’t need a boat, Father will take care of me.” The rain kept coming and
forced the guy to move to the roof. A man in a helicopter came down to lend a
hand and the guy said, “No I don’t need a helicopter, Father will take care of
me.” Finally, the guy drowned. He showed up in Heaven and asked Father, “Why
didn’t you take care of me instead of letting me drown?” Father said, “I did
take care of you my child. I sent you a truck, a boat, and a helicopter.”
It was clear to us
that we needed to pursue these shots. We didn’t want to miss our “helicopter”.
We found Passport
Health (highly recommend them!) and the Health Department in Fort Worth. Our Hep
A, Tetanus, and Typhoid shots from 2005 were no longer good so we needed
boosters for all of them on top of new vaccines for Polio, Rabies, Flu, and the
first shot of JE for 40% coverage. We are seeking His guidance and provision as
to how we will get the 2nd JE shot.
In all of this, we
have been reminded of simple truths. It is not our money but His. We tend to
complicate this concept. We worked hard at creating a small “emergency fund”
over the last several years just like many others do. We got to thinking, “What
would happen to this money if we were no longer here?” (please excuse my
morbidity) or “What will our emergency be?” All along, He has provided. He has
provided in the way of giving us an emergency fund. It is amazing how blind we
can be sometimes!
Please join us in asking
Father to show us His provision for when to proceed with the second JE shot. We
do not have this shot available in our country, so we must fly to Thailand to
receive it.
