Sliding Toward a Collision

Our recent snow got me to thinking. I grew up in north Georgia, so I saw snow a few times. But it would snow, everything was cancelled for two days, it melted, and we went back to life as normal.

But in 1991 my family moved to Indiana, and we lived “up north” until 2005. So, I spent my fair share of time driving in bad weather, shoveling snow, and trying to get around in the wintertime. For the most part we did okay.

I will never forget the first time I felt completely out of control. I had been to the grocery store, and was still in the parking lot. I was going 5 mph as I approached the main road. I applied my brakes, and realized I was simply sliding toward the road. No matter how hard I pushed on the pedal, I was not stopping. The brakes were doing their job. The tires were not turning. But I was sliding and gliding toward an inevitable encounter with the car stopped in front of me. Not going fast. Just not stopping. Completely out of control.

How often does your life feel like that? Perhaps you have recently lost a loved one. Or you may have been given that diagnosis no one wants to receive. You may have too much month left at the end of the money. A child is rebelling. A spouse has decided to call it quits. And there is nothing you can do about it. It’s out of your control

What do you do? Well, the only thing I know to do is to ask God for help. In Psalm 18 David wrote, “In my distress I called upon the Lord; to my God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.” David trusted the Lord. That’s all he had, but that was enough.

And the Lord is enough for us, too. Again, life may not go as we desire. But God has not forgotten. He has not forsaken. He will help you. You can trust Him. On that day in Indiana I was fortunate that my car somehow stopped before colliding with the one in front of me. But I am certain of this. Even had it not, the Lord was with me. He always is.