Many of my most intimate moments with Jesus the past few weeks have taken place in a car. Why? Because this is where I have found myself the most out of control and full of fear! It is so true that when we are weak, he is strong. Little did I know how strategic it was ten years ago when I learned to drive my father’s old Honda which was a manual. This was the only car available to me the summer of 1998, and I had just returned from the UK…a 19 year old who was going to get her license for the first time. I got a job that September before university started working at our State Fair, managing volunteers at a Teriyaki Booth owned by the ministry Young Life. I drove that manual everyday for a month, until I was blessed with a used automatic that I was to drive over the next ten years. Now I find myself back in a manual car…on the other side of the road (which thankfully hasn’t been difficult at all…I assume my many years in the UK have helped)…and maneuvering around in a new city that literally encircles a mountain!
Some days I need to meet someone across the city in an area I have never been too…so I get out my map book (thanks to my mother who is a map queen…she left me 5 different map books from when they lived here!)…and find my destination. Before I start to drive I pray…for protection, favor and guidance…boy it helps! Then I try to remember my turns and…go! I have realized that in driving an automatic one can do way too many things while they are driving…eating breakfast, putting on make-up, talking on the phone, entertaining children sitting behind you, and reading directions. In the manual…I need to be alert at all times…changing gears like crazy and praying I don’t get stuck on a hill! What has amazed me is that in countless situations Jesus has literally just guided me to my destinations…the directions somehow remain engrained in my mind and I don’t need to look at a map…I just end up at the location.
Last weekend, Cape Town experienced the worst storm that they have had in 8 years! On the Saturday I took my roommate Rene to the airport and on the way home the wind began to blow like I have never seen…and the rain was coming down so hard that I could barely see the road through my high speed windshield wipers. The car began to shake with the wind and I was convinced that my little VW Citi was going to blow right off the road. I have never been in a Hurricane, but the cape winds are certainly my closest reference. Once home I went straight up to bed to keep warm. Houses here do not have central heating, so on winter days like these you can literally freeze inside. I turned my heated mattress pad on high and snuggled in with a book. However I became quite anxious when our yard furniture began flying around outside! I also had to check our windows as I was convinced the wind could break through as it was blowing so hard. All I wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and not immerge until the following day, but later that afternoon I was meant to meet up with a friend downtown…which required taking two different highways around the other side of the mountain! Everything within me wanted her to call and say, “This weather is horrible, I will come pick you up”…but I knew I needed to venture out in faith. As I got into the car I took a big breath and thought, “Ok Lord, here we go on another adventure…I desperately need your help.” By the time I left my house the rain had stopped and the wind had died down. I even had the quickest and smoothest ride I have ever had into the city. I found her flat just by the directions I had remembered in my head and even found a parking spot right in front of her building. As I turned off the car, I began to cry. I had made it…in horrible weather and all. I felt so loved by Jesus at that moment…he met me in my fear. As soon as I got into her flat, the rain and wind started back up again, even pelting down large hail, which is uncommon here. I personally believed that Jesus stopped the rain in those 20mins just for me…what a great God we serve who is so concerned for our individual needs.
My little car that I have bonded with the past 3 weeks has now gone back to its owner who is back from holiday. So, I am trusting the Lord for what he has next. Yes I could pray for an automatic (however they are quite uncommon here)…but to be honest I think the Lord has some more adventures and lesson of faith for me as I continue to explore this city…and if that requires a manual…well…bring it on!
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