Following the Faint Red Lights

Colorado gets a lot of snow. Not as much in Denver particularly, where I grew up, but I still had to learn the ins and outs of driving in winter-weather conditions. I now live in Portland, OR, where even the slightest dusting of white gets drivers in a tizzy. You may be such a driver, so let me say this to put it in perspective: I only had three snow days in my entire life. They all happened consecutively when it snowed 4 1/2 feet within a day and a half. Even when it snowed over a foot, we rarely got even a delay (much to my dismay).

This a few weeks ago I was driving up I-5 to Seattle on a day where an inch of snow closed all schools in both areas. I wasn't sure how safe it would be to maneuver my way around the skittish drivers in the snow. From checking traffic and weather cams all day, it seemed safe enough and looked as if the roads were dry. So, I left after work, hoping to get to Seattle by 9:30pm.

It was smooth sailing until I went around a bend in the road, and then all I saw was white. It was an instant change. The snow was blowing so fiercely at my windshield, that all I could see was bright white dots racing towards me; I could barely make out the faint red glow of the taillights in front of me. Through the span of the 20-mile storm, I saw semi-trucks almost turned over on the side of the road, assuming I could even tell where the road ended and the shoulder began. I saw pick-ups, weighed down with traction, do fish-tails and 180's as they slowly tried to change lanes, assuming that we were even driving in 'the lanes'.

I was terrified. Even though I grew up driving in the snow and feeling comfortable with it, I had never driven through a storm that bad. That would be because if, for instance, a storm like this happened on I-80 in the middle of Wyoming, the road would have been closed. But I-5 was not closed. I was left with two options: wait it out somewhere warm and risk that it may get worse, or keep driving until I had to stop. I was too afraid to venture into the great white unknown alone, so I kept going, fervently praying the whole time.

My shaky, white knuckles gripped the steering wheel as I prayed for the Lord to provide for my safety and a word of encouragement. All I could do was struggle to focus on the taillights in front of me; that was the only way to have even a faint idea of what direction to go. In the midst of this struggle, a verse came to mind, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." (Hebrews 12:2). It hit me that this storm was no different than life. If I took my eyes of those faint red lights to look at the car behind me or to see how close the car next to me was, I would have gone off-course. The only reason I made it through that snow storm that night was because I focused all my energy and all my attention on following those red lights in even the slightest movement, trusting that they knew the way. So, if a car got me through those 20 miles of snow, how much more will my Father in Heaven guide me through the storms of this life?

The only way to get through troubles in this life is to fix our eyes, our hearts, our bodies on Christ and know he will provide the way through, no matter what our temporal eyes may or may not see.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." -Proverbs 3:5-6

Attempting to see those faint red lights...