Rev Paul & Betsy Caram "The Long Ride is Part of the Gift"

I was just going to post a portion of this email update from Betsy Caram, however, I could not bring myself to cut anything out so I am posting it in it's entirety. I hope this is an encouragement to everyone (especially any who might find themselves in need of the grace of God). 

I have found that grace begets grace and God gives His grace to those who order their conversation aright. Ordering our conversation aright in the midst of our trials is like the incense burning upon the altar before the Ark of God; It ministers to our Lord. This email makes me want to find excuses to uplift His name even in the midst of my own dark trials...

Blessings,

P.Frank 

From: Betsy Caram [mailto:bcaram@verizon.net]
Sent: Sunday, March 13, 2011 3:03 PM
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: Recent Update

Dear Friends and family,

Well, number five treatment is history and I am going on Monday for number six. My new drug regiment had an unexpected side effect that was a bit rough for me. I had numbness, tingling and sharp, intense pain in my legs for several days, which did not totally subside until the next Monday. As a result, it was difficult to walk and impossible to sleep, so I finally had to resort to left over pain medicine from my double knee replacement surgery one and a half years ago. It is something I am told I can look forward to for the next three remaining treatments, so I would really appreciate your prayers. 

Our time in the Dominican Republic was wonderful, but also not without difficulty. Due to a mechanical failure, our flight  there was delayed until late Saturday. As a result, we had to spend over twelve hours sitting in the cold Rochester and Philadelphia airports, while I was still trying to recover from the side effects of Monday's chemo treatment. Paul had been scheduled to do a graduation on Saturday, which was a real disappointment for us as well as the 115 students who were waiting for him to come. All was not lost, however, as they redid a shortened version of the graduation on Sunday night after the church service and Paul was able to give a graduation speech and take pictures with the students, robes and all. Unfortunately, the story does not stop there, as we also experienced another delay due to bad weather on the way home. This meant after arriving in the U.S. at 4:30 PM, we had to sit for eight more hours in the JFK Airport waiting for our plane to depart for Rochester, N.Y. After finally cancelling us at 10:00 PM, Paul stood in line for another two hours to get us rebooked for the next morning. We got to our hotel that night and had five hours of sleep before coming back to wait another three hours until our flight to Rochester. Then we had to drive another two and a half hours home. Oh, the joys of being a missionary!

For those who might be wondering how we responded to all of this difficulty, I will simply repeat a story that my husband told me almost twenty years ago when we first started our international travels.  We were returning home from Indonesia very tired and more than ready to be home when we were told that there would be a one day delay in New York. We had people already on their way to pick us up at the Rochester Airport that night, which we could do nothing about. Then we were told we had to pick up all of our four large bags before going to the hotel only to return very early the next morning. Arriving back at the airport exhausted and hungry, we quickly found out from some very insensitive ticket agents that the Airline had also delayed our morning flight as well. Quite frankly, as we were forced to wait several more hours, I was tired, upset, and almost ready to lose it until I heard this story repeated by my very calm, never rattled husband. 

The story is about a missionary who went to a remote village in Africa. While there, a young boy gave the missionary a very special pottery vase he had made by hand. The man of God was quite touched by this gift because he knew the sacrifice that had gone into making the vase. He knew that the clay for this pottery could only be found in a special area twenty miles from this particular village.  He then inquired of the boy. "How did you get the clay to make this vase, and how far did you have to go to get it? The simple, and very humble response from the happy little boy was this: "Long trip, part of gift!"  Needless to say, when I heard this story, my complaints were silenced immediately and I was convicted. So through our many years of traveling, with every delay or difficulty, this story has served as a way to put any of our time and trouble in God's service into its proper perspective. It also is a constant reminder that we do not have the freedom or the luxury of having a bad attitude, no matter how unfair our life seems to be at the moment. When situations happen that are unpleasant, inconvenient, or even unfair, our only response must always be: "Long trip, part of gift! 

Believe me, that response has served us well over these past twenty years, as there have been many such delays and tests to prove us along our way. This trip has been no exception, with or without being on chemo! My husband even said as he was waiting in line for two hours, bad back and all, that his thoughts turned to Mary, the mother of Jesus, when she had to make her eighty mile journey to Bethlehem on a donkey. Bad enough senario, yes! But she was also forced to give birth in a cold, desolate stable to the Savior of the world midst animals and hay and no modern conveniences. As Paul waited patiently, that picture kept his attitude right and also later convicted me once again that we have no reason to complain. Our long trip, without criticism of how God is leading us, is part of the gift we owe to that Wonderful One who charts our life and controls all of our circumstances! After all, He is the One who knows how the story will end. 

Thank you for your continued prayers for me. I know I have said it before, but I really couldn't do it without the knowledge that you are lifting me up before the throne of grace. What a wonderful thing to know that God's plan includes us as we are faithful to pray for one another.

Much love,

Paul and Betsy Caram