Meat in Due Season

The day was measured in millimeters. Every minute had been planned and used to its maximum with the goal of being able to ride the school bus home with no home work to do … and therefore no back pack. I knew that it would take a day’s worth of effort and planning in order to make this happen. Up to this point I’ve had to bring work home every night and spend two to three hours along with the help of my wife just to be ready for the next day. So I knew that to be “back-packless” for an evening would take a monumental effort and impeccable timing.

It all started a week ago when we decided that we wanted a bank statement so we could know how much money we have in our Dominican bank account. We soon discovered that banks don’t send out bank statements here unless individually requested each month so we settled on the option of setting up an on-line account so we could check our own balance on the Internet. Of course, this simple goal was complicated by the fact that we could not read or speak Spanish very well so I asked one of the office workers at my school to help me fill out the on-line application. A half hour later she gave up and told me I had to go to the bank in person so they could fix some kind of problem that evidently existed with my account.

Carol and I planned it well. She was to get on my school bus where I was normally let off at the end of the day and then the driver would let us both off at the mall where the bank was located. After we took care of the problem, we could then walk home since the mall was only about a half hour away from our apartment. We have been told numerous times that when gringos go walking they should never carry a back pack. It is evidently an invitation for unscrupulous vultures on motorcycles who scour the city looking for victims to rob.

Not more than four blocks away from where we live a lady in our church stepped out of her car with a purse around her shoulder when a motorcycle came out of nowhere and did a snatch-and-grab. So I worked hard all day to make sure I could leave my back pack at school and go downtown to accomplish some banking business before they closed. I was successful and it went pretty well except some knot-head on the bus made the comment, “Hey, didn’t you forget something?” I’m not sure most of my co-workers have ever seen me without my white Tilley hat on my head and my Targus back pack around my shoulder.

When we entered the small branch office of Popular Bank, we were simply amazed. In front of us were no less than 25 people in a barely recognizable line feeding into what looked like two “cajas” (bank teller windows) in the far distance at the other end of the narrow room. Off to one side another six to ten people were sitting in chairs, others working on guest computers, chatting on cell phones, nervously clutching money to be deposited. Off to the other side behind glass windows resembling a huge fish bowl were women sitting behind metallic modular desks uniformly dressed in blue feminine business suits. Maybe this is normal in this country but to this poor American all I could see ahead of me was about an hour of waiting only to find out I had been in the wrong line. So after five minutes I decided to try another approach.

Two of the bank ladies were not in a fish bowl and therefore fairly accessible, so I left Carol in line, took a deep breath, and walked over to one of the ladies when the man she was helping left. My explanation of our problem was short and very clear. She looked at me blankly, and with a raise of her right hand said, “Un momento,“ whereupon she left her seat and disappeared into a neighboring fish bowl. A few minutes later she emerged with another young lady in tow dressed in the same blue uniform with six silver bracelets on her left wrist. This lady knew just enough English to know I had a problem but it took literally a half hour for us to come no closer to a solution. Upon retrospect I firmly believe she never did understand what I was saying.

Eventually, I was connected to a man on the phone who spoke understandable English (albeit with a heavy accent) who informed me that the person who could help me went home at 4:00 and I needed to come back later. It took a miracle and a day measured in millimeters for us to get there by 4:30 so I knew this had been another wasted effort like so many attempts at efficiency here in the Dominican Republic.

Having spent a year in Venezuela, and almost three months here in the Dominican Republic so far, we have come to expect this kind of scenario and to simply be patient. If we don’t give up, it will happen eventually. So Carol and I left the bank and looked for a way to use the free time that this unexpected turn of events gave us. Locating a Burger King in the food mall we ordered a Whopper and a “Coca Cola Grande” and sat down to eat something familiar and talk.

We have been married for over 35 years now and some of the most enjoyable times that linger in my memory are those when my wife and I have uninterrupted and undistracted time to share our thoughts. This was one of those moments.

The time here in this country teaching at Santiago Christian School has been difficult for me. Not only is the workload the most demanding of my teaching career but the discipline of the students has been unexpectedly challenging. So I have recently been tempted in the area of discouragement. My thoughts intermittently have gone something like this: “What have I gotten myself into? At a time in my life when I should be taking it easy or doing things that I’ve wanted to do more of but didn’t have the time, I am working harder than ever, and I am stuck for two more years. I don’t need this … and I am so tired!”

Then a couple of days ago when I was reading in the book of Luke, the Spirit of God convicted me quite uncomfortably about my unholy attitude:

And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Luke 12:16-21

The parallel between this man who had many goods laid up, and my situation with retirement where I have worked for a lifetime to store up retirement provisions was unmistakable. And I truly believe that I was mirroring this man’s attitude which Jesus was condemning quite strongly.

Later, Peter asked if Christ was addressing his remarks to everyone or just to his closest followers. In his customary way Jesus answered his question with another question:

And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Luke 12:42, 43

As I look around, even here in this small Christian school, it is glaringly obvious that God has granted to others more talents and gifts than I possess. I am a small fish in a small pond. I’ve known this about myself for many years now so this is not a shock. But what I need to remind myself is that even though I am an ordinary man with few talents, I can use them for the Kingdom. All that is required is that I am a faithful and wise steward who gives out a portion of meat in due season.

Recently I have been meditating on three verses that answer the question, “What does God require of me anyway?” This is worthy of another blog entry someday, but I am noticing nothing in the requirements about possessing great abilities. All He really wants is my willing obedience in whatever place he has put me, my whole heart of love for him, and to be faithful in my work. This experience has not been easy for either of us and sometimes we are tempted to take our ease and eat, drink, and be merry. So we needed this mutual encouragement and fellowship as we dined out at Burger King on this unexpected date. There is a short time to labor in God’s kingdom before I face eternity. So my prayer more recently has been, “Lord, please show me each day how to give them their portion of meat in due season.”