It was 5:30 in the morning and below freezing. The angle that the car was sticking in the ditch indicated that it would take even more pushing to get it out. Again we pushed; again the tires sped and slipped around in the snow. I spit out the gravel that found its way in my mouth from the spinning tires. This was not the bravo start the girls and I wanted that morning traveling back to Kansas from Teec Nos Pos, AZ. The trip is long enough without the complications of a royally stuck vehicle.
Finally, after 4 hours of delay the car inched its way out of its snow cocoon, and we were free to start out again on our maiden journey. The trip back turned into an even greater adventure as we made our way onto the highway. In addition to getting stuck, our car broke down twice because of a cheeky battery. And because of two inadequate maps and a driver who didn’t know her way, that being myself, we made a wrong turn that contributed an hour or two to the trip. Even though these were frustratingly interesting experiences, I usually tend to dwell on the details of our stuck vehicle at the beginning of the trip more than anything else.
If it hadn’t been for Dale, who ran back the 7 miles to Immanuel mission to get help, the other girls and I would have been in an even more serious predicament. If it hadn’t been for the below zero degree weather sleeping bag that I brought, just because I wanted to try out a Christmas present, things could have been a great deal chillier in the car while we waited for Dale’s return.
Perhaps because of a mixture of rational and irrational fears, I have a fear of being in vehicles that are stuck in one place. I do not like the sound of spinning, slipping tires. I love the momentum of moving forward. And really, who knows how long it will take to get a trapped vehicle unstuck. Hours? Days? Years? Who wants their cute little car to turn into a rusted hunk of metal?
I also have a fear of spinning tires in a not so literal sense. I love the feel of momentum in my life- the thought that I am working towards goals and accomplishing things is invigorating to me. I was talking with a customer the other day, and I was relating to them the importance I felt about moving forward in a direction in life. Their reply to my dissertation was “Yeah, but you work in a drum shop.” All I could do was shrug, because yeah, I can see the irony of that, and yeah, those are the words I hear in my own heart sometimes. But when I seriously think about it, I know that I am taking steps to move forward. I just finished taking a law entrance exam for the second time, I’m also applying to a few colleges and sprucing up some resumes to apply to other jobs. It is hard to know if this is simply spinning my tires, or if I will gain some ground in using my energy towards this. Even though spinning tires isn’t desirable, I know that tires that are moving are at least more advantageous than those that are motionless.
And thinking back to our car stuck in that snow drift, I don’t believe it was really in danger of becoming a rusted hunk of metal. There were four of us girls who strongly wanted it to be out of that drift, and I am comforted by this thought. I have a God who can use immobility, spinning tires and motion to get me where I need to be, and He is not in the habit of walking off and forgetting about people who need help.
Philippians 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
