Roadside Assistance

For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling;

he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent

and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27: 5

In our recent trip to Panama, we rented a car for the week so we could leave the city and drive the 4+ hour-road to my hometown and have a car there for our transportation needs.  Driving in Panama is such a hazzle.  Traffic is unbearable, rules are often not obeyed, and road conditions are not super safe.  Needless to say it makes me very nervous to drive there so I don't.  Dan does all the driving when we are in Panama.  Yes, he is the visitor, but he is a very good driver and handles the road much better than me.  That makes him overconfident and hesitant to want to pay for extra protections when we rent the car.  This time, however, he didn't argue and we got a good package that included all kinds of insurance.  Included in the packet was also a number for road-side assistance.  I didn't ponder much on it, but I tucked away the knowledge that we had it just in case.

Thinking of this brought to mind thoughts of the road...

The road has been an common analogy for life.  Countless thinkers, writers, poets, singers, preachers, prophets have used the road to explain the ideas of what happens while we are on this side of eternity.  The bumps on the road, the turns and twists, the detours, the loss of direction, even new ones like satellite technology and the infamous GPS plus many other metaphors for life derive from the road.  My favorite of such is found in John 14:6 when Jesus answers to Thomas (the doubter always having a hard time trusting) 

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Like Thomas the Apostle, trusting enough to let go doesn't come easy to me.  At the first sign of the slightest bump on the road of my life, my glands start secreting panic signals immediately throughout my entire body.  I forget so quickly about the fact that my way is directed and protected by He Who Is The Way Himself...and I fall for the signs of "danger ahead" becoming frazzle and fearful.  I forget very quickly all His promises for safekeeping...that's why verse 27:5 of Psalm 27 is one I have hidden in my heart so it can come to me when I meet unexpected hazardous conditions on my way.  

The words that the Holy Spirit inspired David to write thousands of years ago, come alive in us today to bring us comfort and peace in a time when the road of life has become so very scary.  These words remind us that it doesn't matter how lost we think we are or how destroyed the way seems, in the day of trouble the way is never lost because Jesus is The Way, and He keeps us safe in Him, hidden in His tent and set high upon the Rock that is Himself...unmovable, unshakable, eternal. 

Thankfully, the trip to Panama was a joy and we didn't need any of the insurances we got for the rented car...not even the road-side assistance.  But it is comforting knowing that we have them if we need them...isn't it?

May we always keep Psalm 27:5 handy in our brain's address book under our emergency numbers, so it comes to our rescue when we need road-side assistance.  In Jesus' Precious Name.  Amen!