Yesterday was one of those steamy, brutally hot Mississippi days. I worked outside for a while but feared that I might end up with heat exhaustion from the unbearable heat and about 2:00 I came in the house to cool off. My wife had gone to run some errands prior to our trip to Oregon today to attend my oldest grandson’s wedding.
I decided to watch a good movie and relax and chose Top Gun Maverick and settled in on the couch. I had just got to a critical, exciting, part of the movie where a dogfight had ensued when my phone rang, and it was my wife. She was at a store and her car would not start and the warning light indicated that the battery did not have enough voltage. She had no idea what to do, so I told her to calm down and sit tight, and I would come jump the thing off and we could take it somewhere to get a new battery put in it.
So, I walked outside to get in my truck, and it felt like I was walking into a furnace when I opened the door. I had to drive 45 minutes to where she was stranded. My wife had been sitting in the unairconditioned car all this time and looked totally distraught, wiped out, and on the verge of tears. She drives a Cadillac Escalade, and it was not designed to easily put jumper cables on. Plastic covers had to be removed and the battery terminals were in a very difficult place to get the jumper cables on the terminals. I was standing in the hot sun working on it and almost had a heat stroke not to mention banging most all my knuckles.
Finally, I managed to get them attached to the terminals and got it to start. I followed her over to a service center to replace the battery. He told us it would take an hour or less and since we were both dehydrated drove to a store to buy some water and returned. We sat in my airconditioned truck and watched the technician struggle with getting the old battery out and the new one installed. He was standing outside in the heat, and it took 2-½ hours to do the job. I felt sorry for him. As it turns out the battery was exceedingly difficult to remove due to its cramped location and just as problematic to replace it with the new one..
Finally, he finished, and I followed my wife home to ensure everything was working properly and after nearly five hours of agonizing hot frustration we walked into our house – mission accomplished. I was thinking on the drive home how a nice afternoon of relaxation in an airconditioned house had been ruined. I was tired and my wife was exhausted. We were not happy!
Hmmm . . . As I mulled this incident over in my mind, I smiled and quickly concluded it was a nice blessing in disguise.
Huh?
We are leaving this morning for the airport and after we are through with the celebrations at the wedding and a day or two of salmon fishing our return flight will not arrive until midnight. What if the battery had failed and we were stranded at the airport at midnight? Yikes! It was a heck of a lot better dealing with it yesterday than at the airport I tell you.
Sometimes my friends it looks as though God is punishing us when trials come, but if we look hard enough we may just see that He is blessing us and watching over us. I checked the car this morning and it started right up, and we should be ready to go and enjoy our trip.
If you are facing trouble this morning think about this incident and remember no one on earth avoids going through trials. Try to look for the blessing and God’s purpose for allowing them in your life. Not always, but sometimes we can easily identify what He is accomplishing. Just remember one chapter doesn’t make an entire book. The very next chapter can change your entire perspective on things. It may seem like it is the end of the world, but we just need to flip a couple of pages sometimes to understand that this too shall pass.
Through it all maintain faith. God will never abandon you and will be with you for eternity. He loves you and if you are like me you love Him. Show your love by keeping the faith.
By the way when I got home I finished watching Top Gun Maverick and it was great.
John 14:18
No, I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you.