Jim shares…
Monday arrived with our new marching orders. We knew our travels would be slower because of the trailer, so we agreed to contact Glenn on Monday afternoon when we arrived in town. Janie and I had so many questions: could this be the place, where would we live, how would we start making a paycheck, and countless other questions. As the miles clicked away, so the questions kept coming. What would we do when we arrived? Where would we stay? Our money was now down to about $200, we had no financial support from home, and anyone knows that with a family of seven, $200 can disappear in a matter of minutes! Would God provide for us the miracles we needed to survive?
Our faith had been challenged many times in the previous years, but this ballpark was totally unfamiliar to us. All the little quips and quotes that Christians love to spout about faith, belief, and trust wouldn’t fill a thimble at this time. We were totally at the mercy of God, and we knew it. I want to share also the tremendous admiration I had for Janie as she followed me—as I followed the LORD. Many times she had to trust in the directions that I felt the LORD was using to guide us. She was having faith in my faith and supporting my decisions to let things happen in the unique ways that God’s plans were unfolding. This was a tremendous support to me, and when she did feel something different from the conclusion at which I had arrived, she would let me know in her persuasive way. God was instructing both of us, as we were guided by His Holy Spirit.
Jim continues…
As Monday arrived following the close of the World Evangelism Conference, we found ourselves on the road again, this time with a destination. Our family of seven was beginning to adjust to the cramped, new lifestyle called trailer living. As we pulled the trailer toward Lawson, our van was introduced to hills and valleys. Our temperature gauge looked like an elevator going up and down depending on which way the hill inclined. Our gas gauge looked like an elevator heading only down. My joy was not overflowing, I must admit. Then everything got worse really fast as one of the tires on the trailer had a blew out and tore apart.
Overloaded in both van and trailer at the bottom of a steep hill with a flat tire, I felt abandoned. We did not cry out softly, GOD HELP US!! It was so nice to see a highway patrolman coming down the road. We just knew our help had arrived. He waved as he passed by. I remembered that Janie’s dad told me we could change a rear tire on the van without a jack if we hooked the trailer and tow bars up a certain way, but that certainly did not sound like something I wanted to try to do with my family so close to the edge of the highway.
We decided to drive slowly on the shoulder and hope for salvation. To God be all glory; when we arrived at the top of the long hill, we found ourselves at an exit with a repair shop that worked on eighteen-wheelers. The Beto Truck Stop in Lebo, Kansas, was a most welcomed site and a reason for shouting. After some begging and persuading, the wonderful gentleman said he would sell us a used tire and install it all within the small budget we had left. He only charged us $10.49 to which we added a tip along with a hundred thank-yous! Our faith was renewed, and after about an hour, we were back on the road. As we neared the exit leading to Glenn’s home, we entered a line of cars and trucks attempting to make the exit and pass through a toll area. Police were racing to the scene, and an ambulance also as we noticed that an eighteen-wheeler had jackknifed and turned over on the curve leading into the exit and tollbooth. We were the last vehicle they allowed to pass through as the law and other emergency vehicles arrived and halted all traffic.
God was again showing us great mercy. Had we been a minute slower through the tire change and delay ordeal we could have easily been trapped in traffic for additional hours while the truck was righted and the road cleared. The LORD knew how tenderized we were by all of the events that had transpired to date. He also knew the ordeals we were getting ready to be introduced to once we arrived in Lawson, Glenn’s hometown.
We followed the winding roads of Kansas, some four lanes, some two, one hill, then another, a curve here, a farm there. “LORD, where are we going?” In the distance, a city began to appear. The road leading to it went into a valley and then up a hill leading to Lawson, Kansas. As we entered this college town from the west, a real sense of bewilderment surrounded me. “LORD, is this it?” On the inside I was screaming as loud as I could. On the outside, I kept the appearance that this was just a normal way of life for a young family serving the LORD. I felt betrayed by the One I was trying to serve so intently. In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, we read the story of Joseph who was sold by his brothers into slavery, jailed unjustly for years, yet he still remained faithful to God.1 I was beginning to truly understand how Joseph must have felt. But it wasn’t my brothers that did this to me, I thought, it was God,.