A Life Well-Lived, Part 23; Almost Hitched!

Timothy was on a mission trip to the Amazon to help drill a water well with Global Equip and a team of mission-minded folks from all over the world. The villagers and children were very curious about the team and came to watch them work every day. At one point, a group of men came up to Timothy and asked if he could light a fire for a girl in the village. He said, “Sure, let me find a lighter.”

While he was digging around in the boat, the idea occurred to him that there might be more to this request than meets the eye. He straightened up and said, “Wait a minute. If I light her fire for her, does that mean I want to marry her?”

The men all grinned happily and nodded.

Thinking off the cuff, Timothy asked, “Isn’t she too young to get married?”

They assured him she was 13, and plenty old enough.

Stalling and desperate, Timothy asked, “But what does her father think about this?” They all pointed to a man in their group who was nodding vigorously and smiling broadly. Her dad was much in favor of it!

Timothy was grasping at straws (he hated, above all, to hurt anyone’s feelings!), and finally he replied, with exaggerated disappointment, “I’m so sorry! I can’t marry her… because I can’t stay here! I have to go back to my home.”

The dejected crowd accepted his answer and wandered off, crestfallen. Better luck next time!

Timothy seemed to have hesitated just short of being “tied down” more than once! I remember some years ago, he sauntered through the kitchen (where we had most of our heart-to-hearts, leaning against the cabinets) and asked me nonchalantly, “What do you think about so-and-so (a girl he was dating)?"

I answered him with another question: “What do YOU think? What makes her stand out above all the other girls you have met all over the world? What makes her “the one”?

Timothy got a puzzled look on his face, and after a long pause, admitted, “I don’t know. That’s a good question!”

Apparently, his girlfriend picked up on that hesitation, and flew the coop! Another close call!

Timothy once told me it was my fault that he wasn’t married – that I was too picky! (And he was probably right! I was always the voice of caution – “It’s a big decision…think about it… pray about it… pray some more…”😂 !).

But I wonder if the reason he never got hitched is the same reason he gave the Amazon men? Maybe Timothy knew deep in his heart, “I can’t stay here. I have to go home.”

“For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in Heaven.” Hebrews 13:14

“For we know that if the earthly tent (the body) we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in Heaven, not built by human hands.” 2 Corinthians 5:1