Devotions

Devotion:  Moving                                                     

“Before they call I will answer.” Isaiah 65:24

Moving is never easy and not usually a funny deal. Three hours before, we had finished the final loading of two vehicles in 103’ heat and departed from  Dillon, Montana. Our destination that night was Pocatello, Idaho on our way to Carlsbad, New Mexico. Having no cell phones, we decided that we would just stay together as we drove. Good idea. Bad idea.

Turning right, at the bottom of an exit ramp into Idaho Falls, I glanced from the blinding evening sun into the rearview mirror of my car. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I searched the small rectangle of glass again. My husband Russ and his car seemed to have vanished into thin air!

I spent the next fifteen minutes cruising the city streets, to no avail. What would I do now? Call the police? Call our sons? Stay where I was or continue down the road? I started talking to the Lord and drove off into the evening twilight.

The lights of Pocatello began to glow in the distance as I drove and continued to pray.  I took the first exit and found no motels. Back on the interstate, I took the next exit where hotel signs abounded. A large billboard proclaiming “Free Hot Breakfast,” caught my attention. Making a loop back around to the hotel entrance, I slowly entered the parking lot. A man-made his tired way through the beam of my headlights. The height and gait of the man made me think of my husband.  Could it be?

Parking the car as quickly as I could, I hurried into the lobby of the business. I looked at the back of the man completing his registration. When I came alongside of him, he turned and looked at me in stunned disbelief. There was my lost husband.

We told our tale of woe to a laughing desk clerk. Russ had been blinded by the sun back in Idaho Falls also. When he couldn’t see my car, he figured that I must have returned to the interstate. Heading back out to the highway, he hoped to catch me. Little did he know, we were both misguided. 

When we are blinded by the unexpected events of life, how we need to be reminded that God is there, even before we call. We just need to keep our eyes on Him, the source of our direction.