The Hedge

A few weeks ago, as we were driving through St Louis, Mo., in heavy five-lane traffic, we encountered a huge, bouncing, steel pipe in our center lane--headed right for us. With no where to dodge it, Dave steadied himself and held the steering wheel tight. I prayed.

Our little red PT Cruiser was no match for the 3 or 4 foot long, 6 inches wide pipe. Wham! But Dave held tight. Our tire blew. The little car held steady. I held my breath. Suddenly the lanes to our right opened up and Dave could edge our injured little car, limping and grinding, over to the shoulder.

As he pulled to a stop, I noticed another vehicle a few yards behind us, parked on the shoulder also. They too had encountered something deadly on the highway.

Between the Good Sam Rescue service and the efficient, quick-responding Missouri highway patrolman, we got the tire changed and directions to a service repair area.

The other car that had been stuck by this flying, bouncing debris, had to be hauled off by a tow truck.

Thank God for the kind manager of the Chrysler dealership maintenence department. He took us right in and not only checked out our vehicle immediately, he also saw to it that we were conntected with a car rental for the next few days while our car was getting repaired. At least we were physically okay, and could continue our journey.

As we pulled back onto the same highway, we were more than a bit wary of road debris. But we were more aware of the special Hedge of Protection God keeps around us.

The many thoughts of "what could have been" flooded our minds, but the knowledge of the Lord's strong guardian angels looking after us brought us courage for the next mile, and the next.

Isn't that the way life is? Plenty of debris on the way. The enemy of our souls would try to stop us in our journey--try to make us give up. But we are aware that God is always there to protect us. He lets us go through enough stuff to know how much we need him, and how powerful he is to rescue us.

He gives us enough grace to go the next mile, knowing that Awesome Hedge of Protection is alway there.