Don't judge a book by its cover, we've been reminded all our lives. Would it make a difference to you if you saw rough looking characters on a dark alley IF YOU SAW BIBLES UNDER THEIR ARMS?
I hope the answer is yes!
Well, meet Eagle and Hustler, especially visualize Hustler. They were friends, but their outward appearance wasn't very similar. Here is the story about them I wrote last week.
A Story from Sierra Leone
"Eagle"and "Hustler" are both young, skinny young men with plenty of personality and do have a job . Their job is to sell concessions on the ferries that take an hour to cross the estuary that divides Freetown from the airport.
It appears that Eagle may be senior to Hustler since we saw him with the boss counting money from his money bag and doling out wages to other employees.
Eagle first greeted us when he recognized the two white ladies that seemed to stand out. We had been on the eight o"clock ferry and now he was seeing us again at noon.
miss your flight?" He asked. We responded briefly but later had several opportunities to explain in further detail why we were back on the ferry.
Peggy first spotted Hustler with his hair cut close on the sides but with a definite peek at the top of the head. He wore a white sleeveless tee shirt, gold necklace, another shirt unbuttoned, chained bracelet and the biggest sunglasses I have ever seen. I guess you have guessed we named them. Eagle had the word printed on his sweatshirt and Hustler, well, his attire and manner named him. It took him a few minutes of eavesdropping on our conversation to join Eagle in the seats next to us. They had our attention.
There was an attempt to talk with them about Jesus. Peggy started quoting what she said was John 3:16 which actually was Romans 3:23. When I began to correct her, Eagle smiled like he knew John 3:16. Peggy is convinced he did know it.
The long ferry ride gave us lots of opportunity to explore our new friends. Eagle said he had a brother who was a taxi driver and could take us to the Embassy.
When we did disembark, each of them grabbed one of our suitcases and meandered through the crowds protecting us with their sense of authority, never asking for anything from us. They did introduce us to a man they claimed to be Eagle's brother who did have a car, no sorry, a vehicle in Sierra Leone ( pronounced vicle). We had lots of fun with that especially when our driver's car started malfunctioning. Speed bumps were an obstacle that caused his engine to die. A 45 minute ride grew into over an hour and a half. Peggy said,"we are in a pickle with this vicle." You might as well keep your sense of humor.
I think our driver needs naming. "Spark Plug"did have a sense of honor that he would assume the responsibility to get us to the embassy. The only problem being that time was not on our side.
When we began to weave circuitous bumpy back roads our imaginations did start to question his honor. In hindsight we both think he was finding easier ways to get down hills since traffic and up hills were definitely not friends to his car. Spark Plug finally had to cry "uncle" but didn't do so until arriving at a junction where other taxis picked up passengers. That was a short trip which pleased us since the new taxi had its own cacophony of weird sounds coming from its engine.
The number of guardian angels had begin to mount not even mentioning that as we arrived at the Embassy, there was our only true friend in Sierra Leone Franklyn who had been waiting for us, having done all the preliminary work necessary to get the travel documents for next day"s trip back to Liberia.
He had even called Samuel, his friend who had become our friend too to come with his car to take us part of the way back to the ferry. ( Time wasn't on their side either as they both had class 30 minutes before we were to be on the ferry) What was touching to me was that as Samuel put us in the next to last taxi of the day, he gave the cabbie his phone number and asked him to call him when we had safely arrived.
Can you hear the flapping of angel wings all over this land?
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