Dear Good Shepherd and friends,
About a week ago our Honda Odyssey died.
We had just dropped off our nephew at the Casey's off the DeSoto exit near Des Moines. Instead of turning around and heading back home on I-80, we figured we'd journey a few more miles to get groceries in Waukee. I took the earlier Waukee exit which takes you through old downtown Waukee, rather than the next exit down, which would have been the faster route that would have taken us right to the Hy-Vee in Waukee.
Well, our car died at a stop sign in the middle of old downtown Waukee. We were able to push it a block to a bank parking lot and get it off the road. As we did that a wonderful person pulled up and asked if we needed a jump. Of course we happily and thankfully said yes. But no cables. Turns out, the hardware store was conveniently a block down the street. We walked and got cables, got the car running.
But it was still not running well. There was something more going on. I suspected at that point it was the alternator. But was Sunday. No auto places open. This is our only car. And we for sure weren't going to make it back to Adair in the condition it was in.
It just happens that we have very good friends temporarily living with their parents in Waukee, and they were less than a mile from where we were at the time. We somehow got the car to keep running and make it to their house, where it promptly died again when we pulled in their driveway.
They were all swimming in the pool, and my friend Andy and I pulled out the old battery, and went to the nearby Auto Zone to get a new battery, which would eventually get us home.
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First of all, if we did not decide to get groceries after dropping our nephew off, we would have stalled somewhere around the Dexter exit in I-80 on a 95 degree Sunday afternoon.
And we would not have stalled in old downtown Waukee a block from the hardware store if I had not decided to take the longer route to get to the grocery store. We would have stalled somewhere on a much busier road between the interstate and the Hy-Vee.
And we would not have stalled close to our friends' place in Waukee. And they would not have even been where they are if the Covid pandemic was not going on. They are living with Andy's parents in Waukee because they are awaiting the green light to leave the country for Scotland where they are going to do some work as local community builders for a mission ministry called Communitas International.
They should have left for Scotland around early May. But because of the Covid pandemic, they are living with his parents right now. Had this not been the circumstance, we would not have been able to take care of our car troubles in the same way we did, where our kids could hang out with their kids, and Laura talk with Kali in the backyard by the pool. It would have been a much longer and more frustrating experience.
Was the whole experience a bit inconvenient? Of course. Would we have liked it to not happen at all? Of course. But there was also an interesting divine design to the whole experience, one that I could not have planned and one that was the result of what seemed to be a series of accidental happenings, all of which actually made for a much more pleasant experience of a breakdown.
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Now, experiencing this as it unfolded was interesting, and as I thought of it, there is a mix of divine working, but also perspective. I could have just been angry the whole time. But perspective only enables one to see what's already there. Perspective turns our experiences into either inconvenient frustrations or part of a larger storyline being written by God.
This is how I find that God works throughout stories in Scripture. God is often taking what seems to be random events and happenings and turning them into occasions for us to see God at work. And as I let the stories of Scripture remind me of how God works, I am more open to see it in my own life.
We were encouraged by the young woman who helped jump our car. She reminded us of the Good Samaritan who stopped to help another person broken down on the side of an old Israel road. We were blessed by the brief chance to receive help from our friends, to visit and catch up, an opportunity that would not have happened if our car was not having trouble. Our lives take twists and turns we just do not see coming. And often we have no control. We can only go where these turns lead us. But there is a God who navigates and works in these twists and turns, these movements and moments, if we're paying attention. It may or may not be the case that God causes all of these things to happen. That's beyond trying to understand or explain. What I do know is this: whatever happens, even in the unexpected and frustrating, the tragic and the joyful moments, God opens up opportunities, like little windows to glimpse another dimension where God is at work.
This is part of resurrection living, I think. It is to see the mystery of God at work, even in a string of unfortunate events. Because of the resurrection, new life is always happening. It might not always look the way we imagine, but God is giving us new eyes to see, and it might not always result in our lives being "better" -- whatever that means. God is working things out for us to be written into his story, to entrust our lives to him more and more, so that we are living every day in the story of his hope and grace. This is the greatest good of all.
In defiant hope,
Pastor Kyle
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