Chapter 30 - The Devil Lost Again

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the

devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour:”

—1 Peter 5:8

After the birth of our fourth child, Chris, in

September, 1985 and after much prayer, Linda
and I decided to move our family to Sherbrooke,
Canada, to attend a French language school before
returning to Africa. After making the decision, it
seemed the devil had other plans for us. The transmission
of our old station wagon started acting up.
    Taking the vehicle to different transmission shops,
all the shops told me that the transmission must be
rebuilt. I discussed the matter with Linda, and we
thought that maybe it was not the Lord’s will for us
to go to Canada. Sometimes the Lord uses circumstances
to reveal His will.
    We continued driving the old vehicle, even
though the transmission kept acting up. We feared
any trip out the driveway might be the last for this
old wagon, but we did not have the money for
repairs. Even though we were now considering that
perhaps it was not the Lord’s will for us to go to language
school, I could not shake the urge to attend
the school. I could speak some French, but I wanted
to be able to speak it better in order that the Africans
could hear the gospel without me having to use an
interpreter. I shared my feelings with Linda, and she
suggested we keep praying, which we did.
    One of our friends, Max, lived nearby, and he was
keeping up on our progress. He asked me one day
how everything was going, and I told him about the
bad transmission. He suggested that I try changing
the transmission filter and fluid to see if that would
help. I did that, and the transmission responded as
though it was brand-new.
    The devil lost that battle, and we were soon on our
way to fulfill the next step in God’s will for our lives.
We rented a U-Haul and loaded it with our belongings.
We piled our four children into the car and headed
for Detroit, Michigan. There we crossed the border
into Canada and made our way to Sherbrooke, The
transmission never gave us any trouble. We arrived
in Sherbrooke and rented a fifth-floor apartment as
we mastered (we wished!) the French language.