And let me tell you what: He has. He has met our needs. We are safe, warm, and without hunger in a hotel. We are being taken care of. Friends and family have warned us about what could happen, but we have someone bigger on our side than anyone or anything could interfere with. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:28 and 31.
Before leaving, we were warned about many many things. Roads to take, roads to avoid. Towns to visit, places to steer clear from. The list goes on.
Another thing everyone warned us about, along this drive, was Texas.
"Texas is so long, it's going to take you days to get through it."
"Don't count your trip down by states or Texas will make you go insane."
"Texas is nothing but sand..."
And alas,
"Everything's bigger in Texas."
Let me say, most of those are true.
Texas IS extremely long, and it IS taking us days to get through it.
I'm NOT counting my trip down by states, because I was forwarned.
Texas IS very very sandy, there's a sandstorm outside right now, actually. BUT, it's not all sand. It's mountainy (is that a word? It is now..), too. It surprised me, also.... don't feel bad.
And it is true.
Everything IS bigger in Texas.
Even the unexpected delays.
Allow me to elaborate. In the middle of NOWHERE, we heard a squeaking noise coming from the truck. Something was happening. It was eight o'clock, and pitch black outside. We were on a lonely highway, bending and curving every which way. Occasionally, a car would pass us. We all sat silently, listening intently to hear the squeaking again. Then, the "ABS" light came on. The antilock brakes went out. Not good when you're on a mountainy road. We all prayed and kept our eyes peeled for a sign that told us where the nearest town was.
Meanwhile, Carl's phone ran out of it's service area. We had no cell phones (recall yesterday when mine was thrown out the window?), and we were in the middle of nowhere, about to break down.
Finally, a sign was seen in the distance. 60 miles to Sheffield, Texas. 60 miles. We looked at our fuel gauge and noticed it was now down to a quarter of a tank. Without antilock brakes, we had to go extremely slow. We travelled about 40 mph and finally made it to Sheffield in one piece. We pulled off the road, and guess what. There was not a town there. This area might've been called Sheffield, but as far as we could tell at night, it was not a town, and there was not a soul around. Not even a gas station. We hopped back on the interstate, not feeling safe to stop. We continued to pray and hoped we would make it to the next town.
After another 10 miles of slowly inching our way down the highway, we spotted a gas station. At least we could refuel. That took a lot of our nervousness away, so we refueled and kept going until we could get to a stop with a hotel.
Late that night, we arrived. We were exhausted, our patience was thin, and we were all needing a tad bit more space from our adrenaline rush. Once we got inside, Carl and I began the Budget phone calls. I'm shamelessly using their name in these posts so that you know what you may or may not get into if you use their services in the future. Anyway, after getting no where, we called it a night and pursued them the next morning.
A mechanic, who Budget is in contract with, was supposed to come help us. It took hours upon hours for him to come, and several phone calls along the lines of, "I'm right around the corner." He finally showed up and gave us news we were not at all expecting.
You ready? We knew the antilock brakes were no longer working, so it was no surprise when he confirmed it for us. What was a surprise, however, was when he said these words:
"The driver wheel is moments away from falling off. You're lucky to be alive."
Ricky (the Budget mechanic) pointed out to Carl how the driver side wheel was just hanging there. We were amazed. We made it on a wheel that was about to fall off. Wow, God is so good. All of our family and friends have been praying for us to have a safe journey; my family and I thank each and every one of you for doing so.
While Carl was with Ricky (the Budget mechanic), he walked around the car and noticed something looked odd on the towing mechanism tying our car to the truck. Carl noticed it looked strange, but with being a computer guy and not a car guy, he confirmed his suspicions with Ricky. Ricky said, "Wow, it's a good thing you didn't leave this parking lot. You would've lost your car while driving down the road." The ball had broken!
Seriously, y'all. I couldn't make this up if I tried.
Keep in mind, in preparing for this trip, we decided to sell Carl's car. The next morning, Carl was going to drive mine to work and it wouldn't start. I remember when Carl came into the bedroom, and he told me in my sleepy state that my car was dead. All I could do was laugh.
This is straight out of a movie. And if there's not a movie about it yet, there needs to be. Any takers?
One thing after another has been going wrong. It feels as though we're being tested on many days. But you know what? We're being taken care of. God is taking care of us; He is looking out for us.
"He lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks." Psalm 107:41
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