When it ain’t no accident…
By Nathan
Last Saturday night, as I was preparing to take my wife on an all too infrequent date, I went out to check on the school van. Three friends and I pooled resources to buy a 15 passenger van to take our kids back and forth to school. We sometimes call it “the tug” because of the faded “Tugaloo Baptist Church” on the side. The moms and some grandparents share driving responsibility, so everybody gets a break. It works out great.
Except when the van doesn’t start. Which it didn’t on Saturday. I started fuming about children leaving lights on inside the van and went back inside to get some keys to my family minivan. After waiting a while for the 40-degree wind to slow down to a mild roar, I jumped the big van from the little van. I let it sit there running for a few minutes so that the alternator could charge the engine.
I hopped into the van to drive it to my friend Nick’s house, where it would rest awaiting Monday’s carpool. I decided to drive the long way around to give the alternator more time to charge the battery. I drove about 2/3’s of the way when I stopped at a stop sign. I mean stopped. The van died. And wouldn’t restart. I tried a couple of times, went out and rattled the battery cables, and tried again.
Dang it. I reached for my phone… which I had left at home because it was charging and I was only driving up the street. A very rare expletive jumped over my teeth and out into the world. I immediately felt ashamed. I just don’t talk that way anymore. “Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner.”
Rescued.
I started walking up the street to my friend’s house, hoping that nothing would happen to the van in the meantime. It was dead, so I wasn’t worried about it walking off, but I didn’t want someone to accidentally rear-end it.
I had only walked about 100 yards when another van pulled up and stopped. It was my friend Jennifer. Her kids take the Tug home most afternoons. “You need some help?”
“Do you have jumper cables?”
“Sure.” She turned around and drove back to the Tug, getting into position. I hooked up the cables and we waited. I tried the engine and nothing. We waited some more. Still nothing. Finally, she called her husband and asked if he had a spare battery. He had the exact right kind. Five minutes later, he showed up with the battery and we switched it out. The van started right away, so I drove it the rest of the way to Nick’s.
In the meantime, Nick called the school and lined up one of their vans for us to use while we took our van to get checked out. My wife and I were going into town that night for dinner, so we arranged to pick it up and drive it home. Everything would work out fine.
God’s perfect timing.
On Tuesday, some of the parents who use the Tug got together to waste some time. We call it our support group meeting (more on that in another post). We got to talking about how this whole episode demonstrated the love and providence of God.
I’m sure you’re thinking, “But the van broke down. How does that demonstrate God’s love and providence?” How much better that it breaks down when it’s inconvenient for ME, rather than when my wife or one of the other wives has a load of 12-15 children on the way to or from school. Far better that I suffer a little inconvenience than that kind of zooish nightmare.
I am a Christian, and I believe that God takes care of me and my family. But that doesn’t mean that I’m immune to the second law of thermodynamics. On this side of heaven, things break down and wear out. Accidents happen. It should be noted that God does reserve the right to overrule the entropy when it suits Him (see the Israelites’ indestructible sandals when they spent forty years wandering around a desert without shoe stores). But normally, He doesn’t.
God’s care for me tends to work within the general structure of reality that I experience every day. I’m so used to the fact that the universe exists that I totally take for granted God’s astonishing and marvelous creation. Miraculous interventions are kind of like the icing on the cake of normal reality. It’s good for me to remember that there’s usually way more cake than icing, and the cake is delicious, too. Too much icing and not enough cake leads to a tummy ache.
Humility and the need for God’s mercy.
In our group discussion, another point came to the surface. I confessed that I’d let slip a little profanity during my experience. I also let anger against my children flare up when they were in no way responsible for this particular mechanical failure. We got to talking about how I shouldn’t be surprised when I slip and fall into sin. Growing in holiness is a continual battle to conquer sin and grow in virtue.
Being surprised that I should fail is something like pride. Real humility echoes St. Paul, who acknowledged that he couldn’t stop doing the evil that he hated and often found it difficult to do the good that he ought. While I don’t like using foul language, and I’m not excusing myself, sometimes I slip and fall. When that happens, I’m always embarrassed, but never surprised.
It brings home a very certain reality. I need a Savior. Not in general, or at some point in the past. I need to be saved today. Sin knocks at the door, looking for a momentary lapse in judgment or attention, and before you know it, it’s in the middle of the living room tossing the furniture around. My need Savior will not end on this side of the grave.
High mileage.
In this day and age when gas prices in Georgia are hovering around $4 per gallon (and higher elsewhere), a van that gets 10 miles to the gallon only makes sense when four families use it. We get more bang for our buck as a team because one big van making two trips to town will still be more economical than four efficient vehicles making the same trips.
God also has an idea of economy, of getting more bang for His buck. It’s not enough that my experience should help protect our drivers and children from an annoying and frustrating morning stuck on the side of the road. He throws on top of that an opportunity for me to recognize (again) that I need a Savior. But wait, there’s more! God also used this experience to help build my relationships with friends out in Dearing. And like a little cherry on top, He inspired a post that helps illustrate how He uses all things to point His wayward children back to Himself.
God can do a lot with a little. For starters, He made everything out of nothing. But He didn’t stop there. He is still doing it… turning small, seeming accidents into occasions of grace, moments of encounter with the Divine Goodness.
To read more about my conversion, check out Demoniac, now available on Amazon.
