Driving Through The Storm

Yesterday, my pastor returned to the pulpit in our church after preaching at various other churches over the course of the summer. It was good to have him back and the sermon that he delivered was very timely, as always, and well worth the wait. You should also know that my pastor is well-known for his "swagger" when he speaks and he has the gift of being a great storyteller. The story that he told us at the conclusion of this particular sermon really hit home with a lot of people but, it actually felt as though he was speaking directly to me. Before I elaborate on the story that he told, I would like to share a personal experience of my own that almost mirrored his story to the letter. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm not a driver and have no intention on becoming one in the foreseeable future. However, I'm quite an accomplished "backseat driver" (if I do say so myself)... so much so that, if the DMV ever decides to issue licenses for that skill, I will be the first person in line to get one (smile).

My father was an excellent driver and he could drive just about anything on wheels. From the time that I was a little girl, I rode around with him in the car, watched what he did, and observed how he got to where he needed to go. My mother told me that when I was 3 years old, he bought me some type of steering wheel toy that I could pretend to drive with while he was driving. After a while, all my father had to do was tell me where we were going when we got in the car and I could tell him every corner where he needed to turn (left or right) in order to get there and I was still under 5 years old. He would turn his steering wheel, I would turn mine, and when we got to our destination, you couldn't tell me that I didn't play a part in getting us there too. Over the years, as I got older and continued to be a passenger in many other cars, I learned a lot about the driving laws as well. As a result, when my husband and I are in the car, I try to be his "second set of eyes" and I'm always aware of what is going on around us.

Well, a few years ago, my husband, his brother, and I were in the car and headed over to New Jersey to visit my mother-in-law. It was approximately a 40-minute drive to her house but, on this particular day, it was the most frightening 40 minutes I had ever experienced in a car. My husband was driving, his brother was in the passenger seat, and I had opted to ride in the backseat. Shortly after we left Philadelphia, a really fierce thunder storm erupted and the rain was coming down so hard on the windshield of the car that we couldn't see anything in front of us. My husband was relatively calm but, under the circumstances, he drove very slowly and with extreme caution. His brother didn't seem to be bothered by the weather at all but I was a complete "bundle of nerves" and about to dissolve into a "puddle" in the backseat.

I repeatedly asked my husband if we could pull the car over to the side of the road until the rain eased up but, he and his brother both felt that it would be better for us to just drive on. His brother even explained to me that, with the visibility being so bad, if we were sitting on the side of the road, someone might run into the back of our car. It sounded reasonable to me but I still wasn't convinced. After I couldn't take it any longer, I decided to close my eyes, go to sleep, and just pray that we made it to my mother-in-law's house safely. Needless to say, we did get there unharmed and my husband woke me up when we arrived. Of course, I was thankful to God that we made it through the storm okay but, I always felt that we should have pulled the car over and waited for the storm to end. It wasn't until yesterday, when my pastor told this story at the end of his sermon, that I really understood why it was important for us to keep on driving.

There was a church that hosted a week-long revival. The senior pastor preached the sermon each night and drove himself home after the services were over. But, because he was up in age and growing a little weary from the rigorous schedule, he asked his daughter if she would come to the church and drive him home on the last night of the revival. The daughter agreed so, she attended the last service and set out to drive her father home when it was over.

Shortly after they got on the road, a "really fierce thunder storm erupted" and the rain was coming down so hard that the daughter could no longer see where she was going. She then asked her father... "Daddy, the weather is getting really bad and I can't see in front of me anymore. What do you want me to do?" The pastor replied to his daughter... "Just keep on driving."

After a while, the daughter began to notice that there were some cars sitting on the side of the road and she reasoned that the drivers must have decided to wait out the storm. So, she asked her father again... "Daddy, some of the cars have pulled off of the road. What do you want me to do?" The pastor replied to his daughter, again... "Just keep on driving."

The dutiful daughter continued on but became even more concerned after she noticed that the drivers of 18-wheeler trucks were beginning to pull off of the road to wait out the storm too. So, she asked her father again... "Daddy, even professional drivers have pulled their trucks off to the side of the road. What do you want me to do?" The pastor calmly replied to his daughter a third time... "Just keep on driving." Well, the daughter obeyed her father and kept on driving.

After several minutes had gone by, the storm began to ease up and the daughter could see through her windshield once again. After she told her father that it looked like the storm had ended, the pastor told his daughter... "You can pull the car off to the side of the road now." The daughter didn't understand why her father wanted her to pull over now that the storm was over but, she did what he told her to do. After the daughter parked the car, the pastor said... "Now, let's get out of the car. I want to show you something."

The pastor led his daughter to the center of the road, told her to look back, and tell him what she saw. The daughter was confused and didn't exactly know what it was her father wanted her to see so, he asked her... "Do you see that the storm is not over and it is still back there?" The daughter replied... "Yes." Then, he told his daughter... "If we had stopped, we would still be in that storm, just like all those other people who pulled to the side of the road. Sometimes, child... you need to just keep on driving and trust that God will bring you through the storm." The pastor and his daughter got back in the car and, with the storm behind them, they continued on their way home.

After my pastor finished telling the story, the church exploded! He wiped the sweat from his face with his handkerchief, took a sip of water, and sat down. I, along with everyone else, stood on my feet and gave him "his props" for the sermon and the point that he tried to "drive home" to us with the story. Then, I turned to my husband and said... "Well, dear... I guess you and your brother were right when you decided to keep driving through that storm." Surprisingly enough, I didn't have to refresh his memory or explain to him what I was referring to because he knew. He just smiled, kinda bashfully, and said... "I told you." I freely admit that I'm still a work in progress and I still have a ways to go yet as far as my faith journey is concerned. But, this story resonated so much with me that I couldn't keep it to myself. I had to share it in the hopes that it might help others (like me) in their faith journey too.