Numbering our Steps

Dan Macha from World Harvest is one of those guys you just want to hear pray. On more than a few occasions in prayer with him, I have heard him pray, "Lord, number our steps", a phrase I have adopted into my own prayer life. Yesterday and today, this simple prayer was answered in several obvious ways. Bear with me as I recount the past 48 hours.

Wed. 10:37pm Vienna time. After waiting at a coin phone booth for some 40 minutes to make an international toll free call to Wachovia Bank to get money from our US account wired to our new Austria account, and getting transfered 3 times, I finally get through to a voice mail message for the international wire transfer department saying to call tomorrow during their normal business hours, 8:30am - 4:30pm. Do the math, we're 6 hours ahead here in Europe. I was frustrated, to say the least, but for some reason I sat there and entered the toll free number into my cell phone's memory.

Thurs. 5:30pm. We've been at IKEA with all three kids ordering all our beds, sofa, clothes cabinet...since 11:30am, [note to self: never do this again] and I'm at the cashier for the third time when I'm told that my US Visa card was denied. The first two charges were allowed, but not this one! How can I possibly get in touch with Wachovia in America? I mean, where would I ever get the number? God help me! Oh, yeah! It's in my cell phone. Unfortunately, my Austrian cell phone can't make int'l calls, even toll free ones, so I've got to find a pay phone. The problem is, all of the coin pay phones in IKEA have been changed over to the phone card system, and they don't sell phone cards anywhere in IKEA. All the phones, that is, except one. So I call Wachovia US, using the number I saved on my cell phone last night, the problem was taken care of, we got our stuff, headed to the delivery desk, and set up delivery for Friday between 12noon and 3pm. Later on I get through to Wachovia again and initiate the wire transfer I attempted last night, but am told it might not get through for 3-5 business days.

Fri. 2:17pm. We're in our apartment now, but not officially and only temporarily, because we need to put a hefty deposit down on the apartment before they'll give us the keys for the weekend. The 2 IKEA delivery men are here as we speak, carrying up 5 flights of stairs all the stuff that couldn't be crammed into our very wee elevator. Our bank assistant told us this morning that the transfer process was in the system, but it hadn't arrived, and I quote, "experience tells me that 99% of the time it won't come through until Monday." So we have a ton of stuff that needs to be put together, 13 people visiting us from the World Harvest Prague Team and 2 friends from Budapest, all armed with screwdrivers and ready and willing to help, but we won't be able to get the key over the weekend!?! The phone rings at 2:17 (the bank closes at 3pm), and it's the bank assistant, who asks if I'm coming in, because the money we wired from the US just came in. I left the bank at 2:52pm with the deposit book in my hand, our realtor came by with the keys and to pick up the deposit book at 4:20, and we made it to the St. Stephans Cathedral (Stephansdom) to meet all of our incoming team for dinner at 5 o'clock sharp, the exact time we had set to meet there.

So if you're looking for some way to pray for us, keep praying...that GOD would NUMBER our STEPS.