Chapter 24 - Where Did the Road Go?

“But the path of the just is as a shining light, that

shineth more and more unto the perfect day.”

—Proverbs 4:18

After visiting Ghana we were still looking for

the Lord’s will concerning where to start
another church. We had heard of a town named
Abengourou, about 150 miles to the north and close
to the Ghanaian border. I asked John about the town,
and he said he knew some of the Ghanaians there
and thought it would be a good town in which to
start a church. On his recommendation, we, therefore,
set a date to visit Abengourou.
    The day was beautiful as we loaded the vehicle
for our journey. John, who was traveling with us
suggested, “Pastor, do you want to go the way of the
pavement through the capital city of Abidjan, or do
you want to take the scenic route? The scenic route
will save us some time.”
    Thinking we might be in for another adventure
similar to my previous one if we opted for the
shorter route; but since I’m an adventurous person,
I responded, “Why not take the scenic route?”
    The dirt road was not too bad, though it did get
a little curvy after a while; in fact, it was so curvy
that our daughter Angie got carsick and deposited
her breakfast at the roadside. As we continued, the
road eventually ran out. There was a place to circle
around, but no road in view.
    We asked some men who were working nearby
about the road. They replied that it was not finished
yet. To continue on to Abengourou, they said, we
should turn between two trees, which they pointed
out. We did as they said and turned between the
trees and onto a path. After nearly thirty minutes on
this path, I thought my car would surely need a new
paint job because of all the branches beating against
it.
    Soon we opened into a clearing and a small village.
As we traveled through it, a trench, about a
quarter of a mile long and as deep, appeared in front
of us. If we wanted to continue, we would have to
straddle this trench with the car. What had we gotten
ourselves into?
    John said that he would guide me. My wife and
children promptly exited the car until we passed
over this “little obstacle,” as they called it. I wanted
to get out too, but who would drive the car? John
headed to the other end of the trench and guided
me. After a few sweat-filled minutes, I cleared the
obstacle and we continued our trip. In about thirty
minutes, we were on a much better road and finally
arrived in Abengourou.
    We looked up John’s friends in town. They were
friendly and told us of a house for rent in which
we might be interested. We continued looking over
Abengourou, enjoyed a good lunch, and decided that
this was indeed the place where the Lord wanted us
to began another church.
    We went to see the house, a well-built house by
African standards. The security guard allowed us to
look around. As I walked across the green grass in
the yard, the ground beneath my feet suddenly gave
way. The cement cover to a septic tank had caved
in, and I dropped several feet to a steel rod in the
tank. However, John and the security guard quickly
helped out, but it took me a while to recover from
that little nightmare, even though I was quite happy
that I had not fallen all the way down! The security
guard promised he would have the cover fixed right
away. We rented the house before we left town that
day.
    We headed back to Aboisso, not by scenic route
this time, but by pavement. It took us a little longer
to get home, but the traveling was much better.
After arriving home, we immediately began making
plans to move. John continued to pastor the church
in Aboisso, while we rented a big truck and ventured
off to Abengourou—by pavement this time!

(Copyright by Jay B Ayers)