We started the day with hope and promise and a car loaded to the ceiling. We made our usual stop at Starbucks as we firmly believe that every good journey starts with Starbucks. We were clipping along at a good pace, enjoying the scenery and conversation when we eventually caught up to an extremely long line of traffic. As far as the eye could see. Winding through the mountains. After finding the traffic report on the radio we realized that the highway ahead was planning to be closed for another three hours due to a fatal collision on the highway. We weren’t going anywhere. Well…. not fast.
So I dragged out my Belle Amore magazine and began to read inspiration about the beautiful life. It was a wonderful distraction, Of course my husband is getting antsy as he cannot endure standing around doing nothing…with circumstances out of his control. Nobody particularly enjoys waiting. Especially when you’re excited to get to your relaxing vacation spot. But we were forced to wait. People were turning off their engines and getting out of their cars and conversing with each other. But waiting.
We all have to spend time waiting. Waiting at the doctors office. Waiting for kids to come home for Christmas or other holidays. Waiting for the roast to cook. Waiting for our next paycheque. Waiting for God to answer our prayers. What are we going to do with this waiting time? We can use this time productively and enjoy it or we can anxiously get perturbed and impatient. Don’t tell my husband, but I actually quite enjoyed our 3.5 hours inching along the highway, reading inspiration for my life with my hand hanging out the open window. I found it very relaxing and enjoyable and was glad for the time to get off the treadmill and unwind.
Finally, the traffic started to move faster than 1 mph. We were on our way. We passed the leftover half-of-a-car from the car wreck and cringed. I was sort of glad we didn’t get to see more of what occurred. It couldn’t have been pretty. Tragic for somebody’s family. And I was reminded of all the answers to prayer I’ve enjoyed after praying for safety for my own travellers. We picked up speed and were elated to be moving towards our vacation destination. About forty five minutes after we recovered our speed we heard a loud thunk as if we had hit a huge rock or dead body. What was that? Mike pulled over because he felt there was a problem with the tire. Sure enough. The tire had blown. Flatter than a piece of copy paper. Seriously?
We were fully loaded so we proceeded to remove everything from the back of the vehicle so we could get at the spare tire. Luckily my husband is handy with the car jack and and lug nut wrench. We, and by we, I mean Mike, changed the tire and reloaded the car and were on our way. The Infinity manual suggested not driving faster than 80 kph on the spare. Mike thought it felt weirder than it should so he pulled over again and realized the air pressure was only 30 whatever’s and it should have been 60 whatever’s. Once again, we were in luck. Mike had his bike tire pump with us so he pumped up the spare tire to 60 and we began creeping along the highway in the dark. The traffic was horrendous due to the road closure and delay and they were coming up fast and furious so Mike was compelled to constantly pull over to let semis and buses and SUV’s pass. We were getting a little freaked out so we took a vote and decided to pullover where it was safe and spend the night in the car. Things would look better in the light of day we reasoned. We had reason to believe that the other three tires might also be compromised so it was quite stressful.
We pulled into a lit parking lot at Rogers Pass and proceeded to try to get a few hours of sleep. Mom happened to have quilts in the car that she was bringing to her brothers so those came in handy as the coolness set in. The plan was to pray our way to Revelstoke at day break on the full size donut and see if anyone happened to have the unusual size tire needed to complete our set. And that’s exactly what we did. I could feel the stress in the front seat as Mike creeped his way along the highway. We arrived in Revelstoke far too early for anything to be open but were relieved we were at least in civilization again. We stopped for a relaxing breakfast and regaled each other with accounts of our aches and pains from sleeping sitting up in the car all night. And I use the term sleeping loosely. When the small town finally came to life we set out to locate tires. No luck.
So we prayed our way to Sicamous. Same story. Nothing. What choice did we have? We prayed our way to Salmon Arm. We were getting more confident and thought we might even venture all the way to Kamloops on the spare. But we found four tires the size we needed in Salmon Arm and made the decision to replace all. What if Kamloops didn’t have any?
Inching along the highway on a spare and a prayer reminded me how we, as believers, move through life. We are forced to trust God at every turn. Or just despair. But we chose to believe and trust God would have his hand upon us. Well, I did anyway and I’m pretty sure I sensed a prayer covering coming from the exact spot where mom sat in the back seat. I, personally, believe HE allows circumstances that will force us to turn to Him, especially when we have no other choice. Then He has has us right where He wants us. Trusting Him. And there is no greater confidence than true trust in God.
Well we hit the highway out of Salmon Arm with renewed confidence and speed knowing we were cruising on four brand new tires with a warranty. Amazing how that knowledge changed everything. I could see the stress leaving Mike’s shoulders and brow. It was not lost on me how we can fly through life with that same confidence when we know that He has us in the palm of His hand.
It it really is about the journey more than the destination, but the destination makes the journey worthwhile,
The Red Plaid Apron 