I started to feel very nervous as the border policeman yelled at me.

It had been a long day in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and we were leaving the city much later than we had hoped. As we entered the countryside, Diane took over driving. It was usually a six-hour drive to the Pnong Project, but this trip ended up taking much longer.
As the moonless night enveloped us and monsoon rains poured down, I navigated Diane through the darkened villages using a map on my phone.

At around 10 p.m. we pulled up to a red and white gate. We had made this drive before and did not remember a barricade like this. Since it was election time, we thought it might be for voting.

Cautiously, Diane drove past the barrier, and then we came to another gate. I told her just to follow the motorcycles going through. About 300 meters beyond the second gate, we stopped at a large wall with “VIETNAM” printed on it. It finally occurred to us that we were off track and needed to go back. However as Diane turned us back the way we had come, the bar on the gate went down and blocked our exit. I got out and walked toward the silhouetted form of the guard. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” he bellowed at me in perfect English.

I tried to calm the situation, telling him that my wife and I had gotten lost. He was not amused. When I touched his shoulder, he pulled back as if afraid. “What do you think you are doing crossing two border barricades?” he demanded.

“I’m crazy, and I thought it was for the election,” I replied. Only then did he lighten up a little. He told me to come into his office. He drew a map for us and then urged us to pay more attention.

Back on the road, we laughed about getting lost in no man’s land between Vietnam and Cambodia. But my heart was still pounding. I knew we could have been arrested or shot.

I took over driving, but 30 minutes later we encountered more warning signs. We had taken another wrong road and were headed for Vietnam again. This time we were quick to turn around before we had another encounter with the border police.

We are so thankful that even when we take wrong roads in life, God is still able to make inroads into people’s hearts through our lives.

• Twitter