Storm
The name of the Lord
is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and they are saved. Proverbs 18:10.
It was the day before thanksgiving in 1992. I woke up to a
winter wonderland, which quickly became less wonderful as I got out in it. The
roads were an icy nightmare and ice driving has never been one of my best
skills. I was driving a Mitsubishi and managed to slide it off the road and get
it stuck really well. That was OK because I was prepared. I had just signed up
for AAA and called them for a tow. The very friendly operator informed me that
there was a 33 car pile-up on I-40 and it would be several hours before they
could get to me. Then I called my mom
who was working at another school in town. I was going to ride with her and Dad
to Austin for Thanksgiving. Mom agreed
to pick me up and take me the 30 miles from Amarillo to Panhandle. The snow and
ice continued through the afternoon and the 30 mile trip took over an hour. We
were sure that Dad would decide that it would be best to wait out the worst of the storm. And leave in the morning. We
were wrong, though. Dad wanted turkey and
dressing, pumpkin pie and UT football. In a statement that will live in
infamy in our family, he said, “If we make it past Claude,(20) miles away) we’ll
be fine.
We took off, with mom driving slowly and carefully. About 10
miles into the trip there was an overpass which Mom successfully navigated. Dad
said, “That was good driving, Stella”. Then we crested the top of the hill and
saw a semi stalled in the middle of the intersection and several cars sliding.
Mom reacted and slid the car into a snow bank past the bumper. Dad tried
unsuccessfully to flag down a tow truck and just as unsuccessfully to free the
car. After a while he decided that we would walk the ¼ mile to the little 10
room motel and get a room. After the longest ¼ mile I have ever traveled, we
walked into the lobby and told the clerk that we needed a room. She laughed and
told us they had been full since noon, but we were welcome to wait in the
restaurant with the 30 other people who were stranded. We agreed that that
would be good because we were hungry. She apologized and said that the cook
wouldn’t be in for an hour and a half. So, tired hungry and cold we made our way into the restaurant. Dad immediately found
2 of his football cronies so he was happy Mom was immediately drawn to one
woman , who it turned out was the only other person in the restaurant who was
filled with the holy spirit. {I was not well acquainted with the holy spirit at
the time, having grown up learning about the father, son, and Hmm Hmm Hmm Hmm.)
After supper, finally, and more visiting we heard the snow plows and waited for
them. We waited and waited and waited. About 9:00 the owner said they were
going to have to close. Someone called 9-1-1 and the judge called back and told
him that they couldn’t close because there was no place for us to go. He
explained that he and his family had been there since 4:00 AM and they needed
some sleep. The judge, whose name really is Jay Bob, asked who was in the
restaurant. The owner named my dad and his football cronies. Jay Bob said, “Leave them in charge and go
get some sleep.” They left the coffee pot and hot chocolate. We served drinks
and honey buns, visited, and tried to get some sleep in a variety of
contortions. About 4:30 dads buddies
came in looking bright eyed and bushy tailed. Mom asked what their secret was.
They said that they had been sleeping in their car and if we wanted to we could
take a turn. We gratefully took our bags, turned on the engine and the heater
and caught a comfortable 40 winks. We woke up and leaving our bags in the car,
mom locked the car and took the ignition key into Jimmy Don. When we didn’t see
him, mom asked around and found out that he had left an hour earlier on the
snowplow with Judge jay Bob.
Snow plows came with the sun and
one after another our new friends dug out and went on their way. The owner comped
our lunch for our help and finally the last snow plow came over the hill. In
the passenger’s seat was Judge Jay Bob with the key to the car. We got our bags
while they freed the car and were on our way. As we left, I looked back at the
sign that said, Panhandle – 11 miles. Then I looked at the clock. It was almost
exactly 22 hours since we left. The irony of our adventure was that once we got
to Claude, the roads were almost completely clear.
Our lives can look a lot like that
trip. The wind howls and the snow blows, and one thing after another hits us.
What looks like a safe place to wait out the storm is not available. This may
be friends who have been “temporarily disconnected or are no longer in service.
It can be strategies that no longer work, such as addictions that have lost the
ability to numb the pain. It can be a challenge to be crammed together with
others who are storm bound. There are
people in my life right now for whom I would love to flag down a tow
truck. There are also times when it is
hard to rest and we are weary, physically, emotionally, mentally and
spiritually. It can be hard to wait while other people get their answers while
you sit and wait for yours. Rejoice with those who rejoice sounds good in a
song, but it can be tough to pull off.
God is with us in all of these situations. He
is our one true refuge. (Psalms 46:1.) He is the God who holds us in his right
hand.( Psalms 43:1) He urges us to put on our spiritual clothes of compassion,
Kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.(Colossians 3:12) and our spiritual
armor ( Ephesians 6) in dealing with our fellow travelers. Finally there is Romans
12:12, where we are urged to be rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation,
devoted to prayer. Jesus promised us in John 16:33 that in the world we would
have tribulation, but be of good cheer for he has overcome the world.
Let’s be willing to lean on God and
his peace and provision in the storm and to be compassionate with our fellow
travelers.
