By Alan Smith
We recently travelled to Texas to visit friends and family and receive hormone therapy. We were aware of looming weather conditions that might hamper our return trip to Kansas City, but threw caution to the wind, as I-35, our primary route, is rarely closed. We will figure it out later, in other words. No need to live in fear!
The trip down was the quickest ever, covering 545 miles in 7 hours and 22 minutes.
The weather there was cool and blustery the first day, no wind the second, topping out at 55 degrees. The conditions there caused me to lament my recent move to the midwest, but what’s done is done. Besides, we felt God was insistent that we relocate.
Or maybe we just imagined he sent us. Time will ultimately tell.
We had a great visit, but continued to hear of worsening snow and ice accumulation north of us. The news acted as a needle that threatened to pop the balloon that I had inflated with my denial. I began to wonder if the trip home held the kind of catastrophic surprise the Chiefs had faced in the recent Super Bowl.
We contemplated staying an extra day in Texas, but the forecast from KC indicated there would be no thaw for almost a full week. Southern hospitality is a real thing, but a week gets to be a little too real.
“We are Christians: we will go in faith!”
This may be speculation, but I suspect God occasionally amuses himself by watching me do stupid stuff. I am not talking about sin or disobedience; I KNOW how he feels about that. It’s more like; “OK, this will be fun to watch, as the sheer lunacy of Alan’s decisions dawn on him.”
My brother called, just as we were leaving the metroplex. At exactly the same time, the GPS instructed us to exit thru Dallas, not Ft Worth, which is generally quicker with better road conditions. I started to ignore SIRI as she gets a little uppity at times ordering everybody around, but my brother said something to the effect; “Listen to the GPS and quit worrying.”
The trip to Oklahoma was uneventful and traffic was very light, causing me to lower my negative expectations. At this point however, I seemed to faintly recall that my recent visit to the Toyota dealer included a caution that my tires were nearing retirement age. Hmmm…..
We stopped for lunch in McAlester Oklahoma. The temperature was in the mid 30’s and dropping. Additionally, it was misting slightly, causing my chest to tighten, as ice formed on the windshield. As I parked the car, I noticed what appeared to be a small screw in the rear driver’s side tire near the sidewall. The fact that it was clearly visible and that I saw it would later seem providential. In recent years, I have begun to rely on Holly’s intuition for heavenly direction about certain things and this was one of them. More specifically, in the last two years, we have begun to pray for a yes or no answer from God about situations we are attempting to decipher. Remarkably, to date, she has never been wrong. I mention this, because as we ate, I asked her whether we should should stop and have the tire looked at, as the screw was small enough that it may not have even penetrated the tread to produce a leak. Any detour at this time represented an indefinite delay when time was of the essence. The winter storm was advancing south.
I asked her what she thought. “Yes, we need to stop.”
It’s important to note something here about Holly.Many of my friends wives tiptoe through life, cautiously evaluating every situation to avoid potential jeopardy. They are fastidious as they methodically navigate through complex situations, carefully weighing alternatives and proceeding with an abundance of caution.
Holly, on the other hand, bought a moped when she lived in Denver decades ago, as her primary source of transportation.Top speed was about 30.
She has a disturbing lack of fear.
When she gets anxious, in other words, it’s time to locate a fallout shelter.
We ate and Googled a local tire shop, less than a mile away. We didn’t even have to get back on the freeway to get there. Unfortunately, the tire was, in fact, leaking air. The manager and lone attendant were about to close early, as they had been warned that the weather was rapidly deteriorating. I told them of our travel plans and they were extremely sympathetic, but warned us to stop and find a place to stay for the night, if there were any.
They fixed the tire in less than 20 minutes. The repair seemed promising, BUT they warned us that a plug near the sidewall is always iffy. It might not hold. The manager was extremely courteous and called two different friends, one an hour north, the other two hours north of us, to get a weather update.
The report: “It’s bad, snow and ice everywhere. Stay put.” We were 350 miles from home.
I am extremely grateful that the manager and her lone assistant took time to stay and repair the leak. They played a crucial role in our journey.
We reluctantly proceeded. Less than 30 minutes later, the windshield began to ice to the extent the defroster was almost incapable of keeping up. Visibility was very limited. This was the beginning.
For the next four hours, we drove between 30 and 40 miles per hour, half of it with the anti-skid traction control warning light blazing yellow. Like possibly many others, I had never seen it before, indicating that the light doubled as an idiot light, sort of like, “If you don’t stop after seeing this, you are an idiot.”
We motored on, with tractor trailers passing us at times, often going 60 or more. They buried us in a snow cloud as they passed, severely limiting our visibility. This was something that would become increasingly hair raising as dusk fell.
About two thirds of the way through Oklahoma headed to Missouri, I began to feel my blood pressure pulsing between my temples. The entire situation seemed very fragile, like a soap bubble ready to pop. We were now in more remote areas, often an hour or more from the nearest town. The roads surfaces were sometimes visible as one entire lane, sometimes visible as two small parallel lines and sometimes completely covered in six inches of snow. The front end would drift slightly with each wind gust, causing me to hold my breath every time we lost traction.
As we passed each successive town, we noticed that all of the motels were completely filled with people that had cowered in fear, or was it wisdom?
By about four in the afternoon, we began to spot many of the semis that had passed us earlier, only they were now upside down, or laying helplessly in a ravine, or crumpled into giant twisted masses of metal, some with their contents spread all over the landscape. During the next two hours, we saw possibly 30 or more of them.
As it turned dark, visibility fell to probably 50 feet as the snowfall increased dramatically. We were now in rural Missouri with no one else on the road, save an occasional semi. We were in total blackout conditions, as there were no towns, roadside gas stations, rest stops or homes visible, with the snow swirling furiously.
Oddly, Holly was totally unaffected, singing the songs of our youth like a chirping bird, as they streamed through SIRIUS XM. Meanwhile I was silently repenting for all sins, known and unknown, as I attempted to persuade God that, despite my many transgressions, Holly at least was worth saving.
We finally spotted civilization in the distance, as we arrived at the southern outskirts of KC. My blood pressure dropped by probably fifty percent.
In my mind, we had one last hurdle to cross. I live at the end of a long steep hill, which the city seldom plows. Additionally, my house is steeply elevated from the curb with a long driveway. It was two degrees, with snow and ice everywhere and our SUV was loaded to capacity. We slowly edged down the hill, but couldn’t make it up the driveway. After three failed attempts to enter the garage, I surrendered and shoveled enough snow to gain traction and complete our journey. I was ecstatic. And relieved.
The journey home took roughly 11.5 hours.
I realize the record of my trip will be of little significance to anyone else and possibly forgotten by me in the near future. Despite this, one day I will face God and possibly have a life review. At that time, I want to be able to say that I did credit him for the intervention he provided at critical moments in our lives. This was one of them. We desperately needed protection and he protected us. I wonder what might have happened if we followed the normal route home, or failed to see the nail in the tire, or did not stop and immediately locate a place to repair it, or lost control of the car at some point.
Some who read this will say we should have simply stayed in Texas until the weather cleared, that it was foolish to abandon common sense and make the return trip. Maybe they are right. Although true, that’s not the point, at least for me.
I do not advocate for intentionally making foolish decisions, but with God’s help and as a result of his supervision, I have won an extremely prolonged and intense battle with FEAR. Holly and I have endured a long season characterized by extreme vulnerability to financial, health and other issues, many as a result of my own mistakes. In each case, God graciously provided a solution that caused us to clearly detect his oversight of our lives, often while teaching me a lesson. I know this is subjective and cannot be proven, but we are forever changed as a result. I would never want to return to a life prioritized by safety, security, pain avoidance, self preservation and hyper-vigilance. It’s way too exhausting. I have come to realize that more often than not, God doesn’t intend to lessen my burden, but increase my faith.
Some might ask: “What’s all this have to do with your crazy decision to make this trip?”
Just this:I no longer treasure the victories I have won, but the deliverances I have experienced. He has been so faithful to us.
Psalm 77:19 Your path led through the sea, your way thru the mighty waters, but your footprints were not seen.
Throughout the years, we have driven the road less travelled, which is definitely not the fast lane. I highly recommend it.
alan
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