I started over the mountains to get to the other side toward San Diego and was driving our sports car which is terrible in snow and ice. Though driving slowly and carefully, I still skidded onto the other lane a few times but there was hardly anyone on the road going through the mountains. Then I came around a curve and saw an 18 wheeler truck stuck in the road trying to maneuver around a turn. He ended up parking in the road and I didn’t feel safe at all trying to go around him with such little space. This was in the shadows, no sun yet, so it was very icy on the road. I tried to maneuver but skidded backwards into the side of the road and snow. Thankfully, I didn’t hit anything except bury my back tires in the snow.
A man had driven up behind me. He stopped his car and got out to push my car, holding onto the side of the door as I reved the motor and somehow got out of the snow. With his help sometimes pushing and pulling, I could make a Y-turn in the narrow street and headed home, calling out to him, “Thank you!” If that man wasn’t an angel, I hope he’s going to heaven so that he can get a special award for his help.
As I drove back slowly through patches of ice and snow, I felt more safe where the sun was shining on the road and had melted any ice or snow. I saw the spiritual application. Where Jesus shines, there is safety. In the shadows, we are in greater danger. There aren’t choices driving on the road for the sunny or shadowed patches, but in life, we have choices whether to drive in the sunshine or the shadow.
I was very disappointed that I couldn’t make it to my speaking engagement. As I drove, I realized that in the 28 years that I’ve been speaking, this was the very first time that I’d ever been prevented from making a speaking engagement. When I finally found a signal for my cell phone, I reached my contact at the church who was very understanding and said, “Well, I guess the moms won’t mind having two hours to talk to each other.”