I have been contemplating writing for quite some time. There are hundreds of things that happen every day that one could focus on and write about, and at times I feel compelled to put it in words. This is one of those moments.
I'd like to share with you a story of God's providence.
Question 15 of Desiring God's Baptist Catechism is this:
What are God's works of providence? Answer: God's works of providence are the holy, wise, and powerful acts which he preserves and governs all his creatures, and all their actions.
The scripture references are: Nehemiah 9:6; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; Psalm 103:19; Matthew 10:29-30.
It all started Thursday last week. I got up, and prepared for work like every other thursday for the past 7 years. I got my coffee from my lovely wife, and sat in my super nice BMW. Don't let this fool you-it is 11 years old, and has 140,000 miles on it; however, it has been mine for 18 months, and I really enjoy driving it.
Humming along U avenue headed towards 131 to drive to Albion, I had no plan or idea what God would do.
My car started hesitating, and generally speaking: Not wanting to drive any more. I turned around, and went home. Quickly, I switched vehicles, and drove my wife's van to my two appointments. When I arrived home, Sarah drove with me to Spikes in Mattawan where we take our vehicles, and have been very happy with their service. The man at Spikes told me they would take a look at the car, but might not be able to help me since it is a european car.
This didn't bother me. I figured they would fix it. They always do. Friday morning, I drove the truck to work. I own a 1995 Ford F250 that is old, cheap, and carries a lot of wood back to my house when I want it to. It is the exact opposite of a BMW. In fact, it usually sits in my driveway forlorn, and feeling very unloved. It was called to service that day. At noon, while I was at lunch, I received the phone call from Spikes that they couldn't work on the BMW, and it sounded pretty bad when they had started it.
I was irritated, and set out to find a new BMW mechanic to help me. I found a shop 10 miles from the house in Portage that was open until 5:30. I left the office with the truck, and drove to Spikes to switch the truck for the car. I then had to drive to schoolcraft to pick up the youngest two children who were being watched by their grandmother because Sarah and the oldest three were on a field trip to detroit. The problem looming is that if I have two kids, and drop off the car, someone has to pick me up. Turns out Sarah would be back to Portage at the same time I could get to the repair place to drop off the car-before they closed!
After about an hour of driving, and wondering if this plan would work, it did. It was Friday evening now, and we had Bible Study. We all took the van, and enjoyed time with our friends, then came home.
Saturday didn't require much driving, but the BMW shop was closed, so I knew my car wasn't going to be ready for Monday. We drove the van on Sunday to church and back twice. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Then came Monday.
I prepared for work as usual in the house, and got in the van this time. I wasn't looking forward to driving the van because the car is just so much more fun. I had just hooked up my iphone to the speaker system about 6 minutes down the road ready to listen to the Bible over my speakers, and the check engine light came on, and my accelerator didn't work. I muscled the steering wheel over to get the van off the main road, and it came to a stop. With the check engine light on, I assumed the worst. I called Sarah to ask her to drive our only remaining vehicle to pick me up. I then checked the oil. No oil. This is not going to be good. Spikes received another call from me, and came and towed the van.
Now, I was driving the third tier vehicle with horrible gas mileage on a Monday to my appointments, and my wife had nothing. This is quire ironic considering we have three vehicles and only two drivers. In addition, it had now occurred to me that we had no more contingency plan available.
Furthermore, Haley and I were planning on going to Detroit to watch a Red Wings game.
Pressure.
Shortly after the van died, I received a call from the BMW place. They can fix the car, it needs some maintenance, and can be ready by Tuesday. This was great, and I finally had some good news.
I ran two appointments with the truck, and then stopped at home to get Haley before an appointment on the way to Detroit. No trouble. I drove to Battle Creek, then to Detroit. Haley and I stopped for gas, and some food, then were 90 minutes early to the game.
We still had not heard anything on the van.
The Red Wings game finished at 0-0, and continued to a shootout which we lost, and then the mass exodus began. We got to the truck in reasonable time, and I carefully pulled a ticket from under my wiper, and began our treck back to Lawton. This will take about 2 1/2 hours. The parking ticket was $30, and was an irritant, but technically, I was parked near a sidewalk, so I'll just have to pay it.
Haley and I were making good time, and didn't have to stop for any reason until about Albion. This was almost halfway back, and for the first stop, that's pretty good. Upon slowing down at the gas station, I noticed smoke coming from under my hood. I opened it up to see coolant spraying near my battery causing the smoke. I got gas, went to the restroom, bought coolant, and went back outside. I didn't have any coolant in the reservoir. Are you kidding me! It is 12 AM, my wife is asleep with no way to help me. The whole world is asleep and I am with my 10 year old daughter who is relying completely on me to get her home safely.
We get back on I-94, and notice the engine temp gauge is getting high. I tried to vent the hot air into the cab, but it wasn't working. Now we are starting to get cold, and the engine is hot. After 10 minutes of driving, the gauge is very very high, and I pulled off at another exit that might have a way to fix our issue. It didn't.
We waited for about thirty minutes. I check the oil. No oil on the dipstick. Why would this ever happen? I take care of my vehicles, but this makes me look like an idiot.
So I got oil, and prayed. Haley and I returned to I-94 at 12:41 AM with about 50 minutes to go. I intended to drive 20 minutes and then stop again. For the next hour, we drove about 55 miles an hour on a 70 mile and hour road, and were passed by semis, car, and probably horses. The truck was overheating, and there was nothing I could do, but pray and trust we would get home. As we got closer to the house, I slowed, and the engine got much much hotter. We pulled into our driveway, and I parked in the grass away from the house and off the driveway just in case the thing started on fire. It didn't, but lots and lots of smoke and steam were coming from the engine. I opened the hood, to get some air in there, got all my stuff and Haley away from the truck, and tried to go to sleep.
It is 10:42 on Tuesday, and this was about 9 hours ago.
The first thing I did this morning was tell Sarah everything you just read. The second thing was call the BMW place, and ask if my car was done. Now, I know it was a long shot, but I had to try. It wasn't ready. So, I have a problem. I need to take the truck in, but I can't come back home if I do. I also had two appointments in the morning, and one in the evening. If I drop off the truck, I can't get the car when it is ready, and I can't count on the van because it is probably toast.
I called Spikes and told them what happened with the truck. He told me to bring it in and they would look at it, and even give me a ride home if necessary. Not a bad offer, but I couldn't do it. We have to get the car!!
To complicate things, I have to drive to Fort Wayne tomorrow for appointments in Indiana (2 hours one way), and Sarah needs to drive something to drop off kids and meet me in Marshall where we will leave one vehicle and then drive to a Red Wings game, and then get on a plane Thursday morning to fly to Jamaica for a few days.
Rough life?
It sure seems like it. We don't have another vehicle for Sarah to meet me in Marshall. My car isn't done, the van is gone, and the truck might not work.
I walked outside, and started the truck, moved it to the driveway, and came back inside. I then proceeded to get on my ipad and look at all the links Sarah had sent me for Chevy Suburbans for sale in the area. After a few minutes of this, Spikes called. The van is ready, and is ok! It was out of gas. (To defend myself here: the gas gauge hasn't worked in 18 months, so we track mileage, and somehow that system broke down in all the car shuffle).
Great! Now we can drive the truck in, swap for the van, they can fix the truck, and we'll pick up the car with the van when its ready. Sweet.
Feeling exuberant and finding some light in our tunnel, I convince Sarah to ride with me in the truck to Spikes to get the van.
Five minutes later, and not yet to spikes, we were stalled out in a truck a few miles from home with all five children at home alone.
I was going to turn left uphill headed to Spikes when the stall took place. I shifted to neutral, and let the truck roll back to get out of the intersection on this not-very-busy road.
I called Spikes from my cell phone which usually doesn't work in this area near our house, and they quickly came and towed us to Mattawan where we swapped vehicles.
The kids were okay. The truck might not be. This is the part I don't know yet.
I check the oil in the van as soon as we arrived home, and there is oil.
Conclusion:
I shouldn't have to deal with this. Three vehicles for two people should always allow for uninterrupted travel. I had to cancel two appointments and potentially missed out on a sale. If I don't sell, I don't make money, and if I don't make money, we can't pay bills. Why did the truck have to start overheating in the middle of the night? Can't it handle one day of 400 miles? Good grief, it sits there all the time ready to drive, and when it is called upon, it fails me! The van is out of oil, and dies minutes from the house! I get stuck in an old truck. What will clients think of me in that old thing!? Spikes can't fix my BMW, whats up with that? Had I taken it somewhere else right away, I might have had it back by Friday. Why do all these things happen to me, and why did they happen all in the same four day period? AND Really God!! a parking ticket ?!?!
Alternative conclusion:
Questions I have asked:
How is it that I drove 400 miles-most of it at night-far away from home, far away from a repair place, and with no contingency plan, and then minutes after getting home safely, the truck dies in a safe place with help standing by?
How did it come to be that I ran out of gas with the van only minutes from my house instead of 90 miles away (where I was going), and would have been towed from there?
How appropriate was it that Sarah met me within minutes of her return from Detroit and my haphazardly trip on Friday when if it didn't work, the car wouldn't have been looked at until Tuesday?
(More difficult to answer): How and why is it that we have three vehicles anyway? If this wasn't the case, a disaster would have ensued.
How convenient was it that my cell phone worked when it rarely does in the place where the truck stalled?
How providential was it that I turned on 72nd avenue instead of driving through a construction zone (I left that part out), when moments later I stalled? My stalled vehicle would have been in a active construction zone.
How is it that I decided against going to work, and cancelling appoinments, when if I had forged ahead, I would have stalled out somewhere else- farther away, and without a van to trade for?
Do you really have no perspective David? You go to a Red Wings game, and travel to many great places, and you complain about this? Thinking about yourself much?
I ask then, why wouldn't I want this to happen to me? Why wouldn't I want God to try me, and test my inward thoughts, motives, and desires? Why wouldn't I want him to preserve me through difficulty? If I never need to be helped and providentially saved, I would less and less see a practical need for my dependence on God. He is the one that lined up all these things in four days. He is the one that sustained a broken down truck 150 miles from here in the dark night so that we would get home, but more importantly that I would glory in his providential care for me and my little girl.
The same way Haley was 100% dependent on me and my decisions with the truck through the night, I am dependent on God and his choosing of circumstances, and events for me.
Colossians says that "in him all things hold together" and Hebrews says that he "upholds the universe by the word of his power." Do we believe this or not?
When God works all things out for good for His people, He doesn't say the events are good. He didn't say my truck would survive this. He didn't say we'd even make it back from the Red Wings game alive. He said it would work out for good. If I can glory in broken vehicles because of Christ, then this is a good thing.
I have trusted my son's life to this great God, how can I not trust Him in everything?
