I found my watch!  About 2 weeks ago, I lost my watch to the soil of Sudan.  The watch, which I received for my first Holy Communion when I was eight, is probably my oldest possession that is neither lost nor broken these days.  Losing it here came as a bummer, but after praying both for its appearance and for some perspective in my own heart, I became pretty okay by accepting that it’s just a possession and there are much greater tragedies in the world.  And as one of my Sudanese friends said: “it’s just a watch.  God will bring you another.”  So I was resolved to cry no more over this spilled milk.

This morning we had our usual clinical skills class in the AM hours, during which I could see some of the staff cutting the grass with these long machete-type blades.  Another of the Sudanese clinic staffers, a great guy named Deng, came into the class and asked if this happened to be the watch I lost weeks ago.  And in his hand was indeed my watch!  It had been beat up a little bit by footsteps and rain (it was found on the ground once the grass had been cut), and was also no longer working, but I was darn happy to have this special watch back.  Even if it never ticks again, I’m glad.

Though I don’t want to make it seem like losing my watch was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, I do think it nicely illustrates the interesting relationship between prayer, trust in God, and His answer to our prayers.  I realize that God answers our prayers in curious ways sometimes.  As they say, He works in mysterious ways.  After spending a little while being bummed at losing my watch, I realized that this is all part of God’s plan, and to let it bum me out any longer would be a waste of this precious time I have here in Sudan.  And now, weeks later, having accepted losing it, it found its way back to me.  It was another reminder of how good it is to realize that God is indeed in the driver’s seat.  I worried about it, looked for it, prayed about it; but I finally was able to  put the matter to rest in my heart once I placed it in God’s hands.  And lo and behold, He brought it back to me.

So today is off to a good start.  We are all going to head off into town in a little bit to look around and enjoy the remainder of the afternoon.  So that’s all for now folks.  I hope you all have a good day as well.  John