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Missionary (Mis)Adventures - RoBob the Science Snob is Chagrinned
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Pocket Full of Quarters Trek 2009 – Give ‘em Heaven
Missionary Misadventures
RoBob the Science Snob is Chagrinned
By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
Kingston, New York
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10 NIV
My husband is the smartest person I know. That’s a bold statement since I spent most of my career working with brilliant people. It doesn’t take anyone around him long to figure out just how smart he is. He’s known he was smart since he was five and repaired the family television sets. Being so smart is a lot of pressure and work. He’s the first person many call when they are in a technological or mechanical jam.
“Bob, I think Halleluiah has cooked another converter box. I didn’t use the hair dryer in the battery powered plug, I promise. This time, it just happened.”
“Cheryle,” RoBob answered. “We need that working properly if we are going to leave Belle in the camper while we are in New York City.”
RoBob has a knack for stating the obvious. “I know,” I said glumly.
I could hear the clicking of RoBob’s computer as he looked for a RoadTrek dealership. “Aha,” he said. “There is one 5 hours away.”
He called back in a few minutes to say they could take me at 8:00 the next morning. “They say there is a hotel right next door.”
I didn’t leave Canandaigua until 2:00 PM. I took the scenic route through the Catskill Mountains, which turned out to be a bad idea.
“Bob,” I wailed. “I don’t know where I am. My GPS wants me to take a road I won’t fit on.”
“Where are you?” he asked.
“I already said I don’t know,” I answered.
“Tell me what you see right now,” I said.
“Eggs,” I said.
“What?” he demanded.
“I found a grocery store. I’m shopping.”
“But you don’t pass through any towns big enough for a grocery store.”
“Well, I’m in a pretty big grocery store.”
“Cheryle, where are you?”
I stopped a customer and asked, “What town am I in?”
The woman looked shocked but answered. I repeated what I thought she said and I heard that computer clicking again.
“Cheryle, there is no town by that name in New York. Could you have misunderstood her?”
I stopped another person and asked, “How do you spell the town I’m in?”
I heard the clicking again. “Cheryle, how on earth did you get there?”
“I think the important thing is to figure out how to get me to Kingston, New York.”
The click click click was followed by a new set of directions. I loaded my groceries in Halleluiah and off we went. I checked into the hotel well after dark wondering if I’d driven my husband to drink.
The next morning I took Halleluiah to the camper hospital. “We probably can’t get to you right away. We’re really backed up,” Camper Doctor Donald said.
“You’ll get to me,” I said cheerfully. “And you’ll be able to help me. I have too many people praying for you. I’ll just go back to my hotel until you call to tell me it is fixed.”
Sure enough, later that afternoon, Donald called excitedly. “We fixed it. We thought we’d never figure it out but we fixed it. The bad news is it took several hours so you owe us $350.”
“What was wrong?” I asked.
“Your inverter wasn’t fried. It had shut itself off. It has a reset button. All we had to do was reset it. At first we couldn’t figure out why it shut off. Then we saw how much stuff you had packed underneath. There were plastic bags against the return air vent and it overheated. You probably didn’t need that last inverter replaced. It just needed to be reset.“
“Tell your mechanic he is a genius,” I said happily. “This is the 3rd time I’ve had this repaired. Even my brilliant husband couldn’t figure it out.”
I knew RoBob was going to be upset that he hadn’t figured out the problem. Just to add insult to injury, he was the one that had packed the plastic bags so close to the return air vent. Sure enough, when I finally gave RoBob the report, I got stunned silence. I tried not to laugh. I really did but I couldn’t help it.
“Bob, you’re chagrinned aren’t you. You think you should have been able to figure that out. Honey, you can’t know everything.”
“I should have figured it out. Where is that reset button anyway?”
“On the inverter box,” I said. Again, I got silence.
“It’s a bad design,” I helpfully offered.
“It is,” he agreed. “But I should have been able to figure that out.”
“Bob,” I said. “It took 3 camper stores and this is their specialty.”
“Cheryle,” he said. “I should have been able to figure this out.”
Later, as I told my daughter the story I said, “Your dad is upset. He thinks he should have figured this out.”
“He should have,” Kelley said. “He’s Dad.”
It sure is less pressure being me. No one expects me to know everything.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information or to schedule a speaker for an event, go to www.pocketfullofchange.org or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462.
This ministry exists because people like you are called to help fund the work of the kingdom. To help keep the Pocket Full of Quarters Lady on the road as a traveling missionary, send your tax deductible contribution to Pocket Full of Change Ministries, POB 51205, Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32240 or go to the donate button on the home page of this website.
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