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Do you worry when you drive that
something may go wrong with your vehicle? I do all the
time.
Part of my worry comes from
personality quirks, I suppose, and part of the concern is based
experiences I've had. After all, any mechanical thing can
fail, even when we have done everything reasonable to avoid
trouble. Machines break down all the time.
But I also need to remember the
faithfulness of the Lord. God has kept me and my
passengers safe through millions of miles of travel. I've
been driving since I was 15. In the 40 years since I first
started driving I have operated cars, trucks, vans and even
18-wheelers all over the United States, from Texas to Montana,
Maine to California, Florida to the state of Washington, and
just about all the places in between. I driven plenty of
vehicles that were less than road-worthy. I've driven in
all kinds of weather: watching tornados dangle overhead, being
pushed around by hurricanes, trying to gain traction and
visibility in ice and snow storms, sweating in massive heat
waves, peering through fog so dense that nothing was visible,
pushing through flooded streets where the water washed over the
hood of the car. I've taken big trucks up and down
mountains, little cars on the same kinds of trips, driven across
deserts, along continental coasts, down into Old Mexico, up into
and across Canada. All sorts of places, all hours of the
night and day, in all kinds of conditions.
I have had some flat tires,
breakdowns, and engine failures. But the Lord has always
been right there with me. In the middle of the night,
hundreds of miles inside Old Mexico where I barely spoke the
language, I lost a fan belt. I finally made it to a Pemex
station, only to find that they sold no belts. But I
gained permission to dig through their junk pile, and after a
long time, I finally found a belt that would work. The
Lord was with me.
My little Dodge Omni overheated
while trying climbing a mountain in Colorado. When I
checked the radiator, it was low on coolant, and I was stuck
without water. Until I looked at the rocky slopes and
discovered water literally running down the entire side of the
mountain itself. The Lord was with me in that remote
place. When I was a young man, the fuel pump on my Chevy
came loose from the engine while I was driving, out in the
middle of nowhere. I had no tools. Amazingly, I was
able to find the bolts, and I managed to walk a few miles to a
farm house, where I borrowed a wrench and pliers. Soon, I
was on the road again. The Lord was with me.
In fact, in every situation, in
every kind of circumstance, the Lord has been right there to
help and guide me through. These days, I always try to be
prepared when I travel. But the greatest preparation is
always prayer to God. I commit myself, my wife and anyone
else traveling with me, and my vehicle to the care of the Lord.
And He keeps us. I have also learned to pray the same kind
of prayer when I am home, at work, or anywhere else. God
keeps what we place in His care. The Lord Jesus does not
leave us alone.
We cannot control life and the many
things going on all around us. I cannot change the path of
a storm, stop a raging fire, prevent a flood. But my God
can keep me, no matter what. He will also keep you and all
that you place into His hands.
Jesus once said: "My sheep hear My
voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give
them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall
anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has
given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to
snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are
one." (John 10:27-30, NKJV) Whatever is placed in God's
hands is covered and safely kept.
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