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Plane engine
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Bill and Jo
HEAL Africa has been anxiously awaiting the arrival of a
40-foot container from Australia with donated equipment to provide oxygen
for patients in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. The equipment will undoubtedly save many
lives at Heal Africa Hospital.
The container arrived this week, but was immediately
impounded by government authorities who assessed customs duties on the shipment. The invoice was just over $100,000, almost the price of the entire
container full of equipment.
Dr. Jo Lusi, Director of HEAL Africa Hospital, decided to travel to Kinshasa to appeal the heavy
duties on lifesaving material to be used at the non-profit hospital. Much
prayer covered the situation.
Wednesday, as many were praying, a different scenario
unfolded several hundred miles away.
The Deputy Minister of Taxation had arrived in Goma during the day by
vehicle, heading to the airport to meet a plane that would take him back to
the capital city of Kinshasa, on the other side of the country. En route to Goma, an eagle flew into the
plane’s engine and the pilot had to make an emergency landing. Another plane would have to be dispatched to pick up
the Minister in Goma on the following day.
Dr. Jo, upon learning that a high level tax minister was ‘stranded at
the airport’, hurriedly left the hospital. He met and greeted the Minister in
the airport VIP lounge, escorted him to the best hotel in town, and took him
out to dinner. Over the meal, Dr. Jo explained the dilemma of the exorbitant
customs fees for the life-saving equipment.
The Deputy Minister agreed that he must look into the
situation when he returned to his office in Kinshasa. The next day, as the Minister departed on
the new plane, Dr. Jo was told the “tax would be departing, too”.
God says to commit our concerns to Him, which is exactly
what Jo did. Who would imagine that an eagle and an emergency landing would be
the way God chose to answer his prayers?!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9