Who Says God Doesn't Know What He's Doing?
by Stephen J. Hopson

Climbing out of the car, I looked up at the sky. It was dark and ominous, almost foreboding. The air was uncomfortably damp and drizzling lightly.

I went to the restroom and scurried back to the car, feeling a strong urge to refill the tank. It was only half-empty. Normally, I waited until the fuel gauge flashed me a warning sign. Without giving it much thought, I filled it up, paid for it with a credit card and hurried back to the freeway.

To my delight, it began to snow. But, in the blink of an eye, it swirled down harder and harder, sharply reducing visibility. In a matter of minutes, it was nightfall and I was forced to slow the car to a crawl. My stomach tightened for the first time that night.

Roads were fast turning to ice and the wind blew harder with each passing minute. It felt as if I was piloting a small aircraft through severe air turbulence. We had to find a hotel, quickly. Eventually, we saw what we both thought was a sign for hotel accommodations right before an exit. The blinding storm made it difficult for us to see it clearly but we decided to take the chance and got off the freeway.

At the end of the exit, there was a dead end with a yellow blinking light swinging wildly in the wind. I stole a glance at my friend. He was pointing to the left. I turned left. About a mile down the road, we spotted a lone car up ahead of us. Thinking they were from the area, we followed them but after a few minutes we realized they were lost too. We had no choice but to go back the other way.

Turning the tiny car around on the narrow two-lane road was no easy feat. The wind was howling menacingly all around us. The possibility of being windswept into the ditches was real - very real.

With the greatest concentration I could muster, I took a deep breath and swung the car back and forth, inches at a time, to turn around. Suddenly, the rear wheels spun like crazy.

It was a sickening feeling.

Despite the danger of sinking deeper into the snow, I continued to rock the car until the wheels finally caught on and the car miraculously lurched forward.

Thank God.

We went the other way, my heart pounding wildly. There was no sign of life on the ghostly white landscape. My friend convinced me to get back on the freeway and perhaps find an overpass for temporary shelter until the storm blew over.

I looked at the gas meter. Incredibly, it was still full.

Hunching over the steering wheel and squinting my eyes, I tried to see through the howling blizzard to find the ramp but it was nearly impossible to see where I was going.

In the midst of all this, somehow I remembered I was carrying in my right pocket a small stone with "Faith" inscribed across the surface. My right hand shook as I reached down to touch the smooth, polished rock. Wrapping my hand around the stone, I closed my eyes and pleaded, "Dear God, please get us back on the freeway. Please guide us home now."

As I opened my eyes, my mouth dropped in astonishment.

We had made it to exit for the freeway! How in God`s name we got there, I`ll never know. I`ll have to ask God when I arrive at the pearly gates someday.

Clutching the steering wheel, I slowly drove up the icy ramp, completely relying on the small yellow reflectors shimmering in the glare of the car`s headlights. Once we found our way back to the freeway, we continued the treacherous journey all by ourselves, driving at a snail`s pace for the longest time. After what seemed like hours, we saw what looked like several beams of light in the distance resembling a small, bustling city. I breathed a sigh of relief.

But, as we got closer, we saw that it wasn`t a city that we were approaching but a bunch of cars and trucks stuck in the ditches with their headlights illuminating and crisscrossing the snowy night sky!

We drove on in stunned silence. All we could do was to pray for them.

At this point, past and current problems totally vanished from my mind. I found myself mentally forgiving everyone who "wronged" me in the past. I released all my resentments, anger and ego related issues to God. My biggest concern that night was to get home alive. Never before had I done so much mental housecleaning in one night!

Nine hours later, our weary, bleary eyes saw the most beautiful sign we had ever seen. It said:

Bridge to USA, 27 miles.

Tears rolled down my face as we finally drove across the border into the safety of our country.

Who says God doesn`t know how to give you a good cause for mental housecleaning?

He even paid for the gas - the charges never showed up on my credit bill!