Driving on empty

I know nothing about the mechanics of cars, but I love to go on long drives. That’s when my mind is quiet and I’m able to let go of the things that happened prior to my closing the car door – and block out things that I’ll have to think about or do, once the car door opens again. In the car, it’s just me and my thoughts. Believe me, I have quite a few annoyed friends who claim I looked right at them and totally ignored their frantic waves, as they drove past me! 🙂

But it was about 5 years ago, on my drive home from work, when the bright orange light of the fuel gauge flashed brightly and caught my attention. Usually it wouldn’t be a problem, but on that day I was taking the scenic route home. It’s a beautiful, serene drive through the back-country… with farmlands and blueberry fields on one side, and mountains on the other. It definitely wasn’t a good time to be running out of fuel – there were no gas stations for the next 20 minutes or so of my drive.

Now I wasn’t too worried. Though my car was 10 years old, I knew it had a gauge that told me how many kilometres I could drive, before it would sputter to a stop. Instead, all I saw flashing was ‘- – – DTE’. What? THREE dashes? Did that mean that I was totally out of fuel? I fought down panic. It was getting dark and and I didn’t even know the name of the road I was on – try explaining that to Roadside Assistance!. And that’s when I remembered reading in the car manual, a long time ago, that I would get around 30 km from the time the gas light flashed to empty. Anyway, I wasn’t going to stop and check this out, just in case the car sputtered to a complete halt. So yes, I was going to trust my very unreliable memory, take a deep breath and kept driving. Honestly, I don’t remember much of that drive. I was quite certain with every speed-bump I hit, the car was going to cough to a stop. Every time the traffic built up at four-way stops, I panicked. And I almost totally lost it when a long freight train pulled past ever so slowly. It certainly wasn’t life or death – but I knew if I ran out of gas, in the middle of nowhere, it was certainly going to inconvenience many people!

A few weeks ago, a dear friend who has been going through a time of trial in her life said sadly, “I don’t think God is even listening to my prayers.” And I totally understood. I too know that I’m waiting for God to move in a particular area of need right now; I too know the pain of waiting months and sometimes years for answers to prayer; I too know the doubts and fears that plague one in the dead of night; I too know that I often tire of waiting; and I know for sure I would take the easier route of zapping into existence a miracle, rather than experiencing the growing pains of faith! And as I chatted with my friend, I was reminded of the flashing three dashes in my old car. Though the gauge failed, the car being true to what it was built to do, took me the 28 km that I needed to go, before I was able to fuel up.

And so I learn friends, that as I drive along life’s roads with my faith-gauge flashing empty, and the speed-bumps of life slow me down, or the freight trains of doubt and despair chug past me ever so slowly, or when I’m stuck at a stop sign and others drive past as their prayers are answered, I will quiet my heart and remember all the many promises given in the Manual of the God of Life, which beginning to end, proclaim His Faithfulness!

Everything written in the Scriptures was written to teach us, in order that we might have hope through the patience and encouragement which the Scriptures give us. [Romans 15:4 GNT]

You know, if I made that drive of 28 km on the word given in a Nissan manual, a totally fallible source, how much more I should trust in the Word of the Almighty God of the universe, who promises me hope and deliverance – and has come through for me – every single time!

For as many as are the promises of God, in Christ they are [all answered] “Yes.” So through Him we say our “Amen” to the glory of God. [2 Corinthians 1:20 AMP]