Marriage Moats-Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Published: Thu, 02/10/11

Marriage Moats

Caring for Marriage

A few years ago I was driving from Pennsylvania to California with six of my children. John had flown ahead so that he could preach. We stopped for lunch and I heard an unfriendly "thunk" come from under the engine. Normally I am allergic to all things mechanical, but I held my breath and looked. There was something metal that seemed like it had once been attached.

Although the steering was barely responsive, I did manage to get it across the street to a gas station. Now my problems were solved, I believed. We crammed into the waiting nook, my progeny and I (which, I should mention, included a toddler with approximately 12,000 chicken pox distributed across his small body). The mechanic looked dubious.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"We need to be in California by Thursday." After a few hours of us staring down his back, he said he was finished working. In guarded words, he tried to explain.

"The steering block is held on by a single bolt, because the other was snapped off, and if the remaining bolt fails... well... that would not be good." I threw money at him, we piled into the car, and headed west. I assessed the odds.

My youngest was seriously pocky, and had a history of febrile seizures. Our newly issued insurance cards were no doubt in the overcrowded mailbox at home. It was a toasty August day with no air conditioning, and we had miles of desert ahead of us. Of course if the steering block actually fell off we would have no need of a hospital anyway. A morgue would suffice.

Sitting in the front seat with my sunny six year old, I felt the contrast between his trust and mine. He felt safe and enjoyed the scenery. I stewed and fretted over worst-case scenarios.

Then Zachary said "Look, Mom! A cloud!" Sure enough, out here in the barren flats of Utah was a single cloud. Curiously, it appeared to be, well, vertical, rather like a pillar I once read about. As we drove into the pillar of cloud, we found ourselves washed in rain.

"I didn't think it rained in the desert, Mom!" he exclaimed. Zack's joy was mounting.

"You are right, it usually doesn't," I mused. Then I saw it. A rainbow, as wide as a football field stretched just out of arm's reach.

"A rainbow!" he shouted, "I bet it's a sign that we will make it!"

"I think you are right," I nodded.

When we finally arrived in California and John took the car in to our own mechanic, his eyes grew wide.

"You drove how far in this car?" he gasped. He refused to fix it, and insisted we get a new one.

The reality is, the Lord is always taking care of us. But something happens when we walk a little closer to the edge, and feel the winds of danger whip past close enough to chill. When that veil of protection is lifted just for an instant, I sense that He is watching me, every moment of a moment. It's funny, but I feel more loved.

"Angels from the Lord lead and protect people, and this every moment, and every moment of a moment." (Secrets of Heaven 5992).

Photo by Jenny Stein