I'm entering into this space with so much gratitude. Earlier this week, I went out to shovel my car out of the snow to go to work and as I was knee-deep trying to maneuver around my car without falling over, a car pulled up and a man yelled, "hey! you need some help?" I looked over and said that I was ok and that he didn't have to get out of his car. The man went on to hop out of his car with a huge shovel and helped me dig my car out. Before he went back to his car, I gratefully asked him what his name was and that I had never seen him on the block. He smiled and said, "oh, I live over on the next block. My name is Immanuel." He proceeded to hop in his car and drive away and I stood there shaking my head with a smile on my face.
The next morning, I picked up my coworker, Kierra, and as we were driving on lakeshore at 50 mph, my front hood popped open and slammed against my front windshield. Yup, you read that right. It was like a scene from 'Tommy Boy' except that this was real-life. I drove blindly for a good 10 seconds or so and was able to slow down, put on my blinkers, and pull over to the side on lakeshore drive. Hopping out of my car, I attempted to pull my hood back down but the torque from the wind had jammed my hood upright against the windshield. Kierra had to get out of the passenger side and after a bit of struggling we were able to slam it back down. I just want to highlight two important observations that lead me to speak of God's protection. During that moment when my hood slammed upright, no cars were on lakeshore except for mine. Mind you, this was Tuesday morning at the height of rush hour. I 100% believe that if there was a car in front of me or even to my side, we would have gotten into a major accident. Second, the windshield didn't shatter when the hood slammed into it. I can only imagine worst-case scenarios in which Kierra and I were not only driving blindly on lakeshore, but were exposed to flying shattered glass. Thank goodness that scenario didn't happen.
After this incident, I was definitely on high-alert when driving my car for the rest of the week. On Thursday, as I was driving home from work, my check engine light came on and I took it as a sign that there was something else going in with my car and that I should take it to my mechanic. Yesterday, I dropped it off early and was informed that my engine had overheated to 300 degrees when the check engine light came on. Joe Jr. and his crew had to put in two gallons of coolant (clearly I need to be better about checking coolant levels in my car) and replace the temperature gauge (which had snapped). After a slight dent in my wallet, I was able to take it home in the later afternoon.
Wowza. What a week. To loop back to the beginning of this post, I just want to emphasize how this is how I experience the Lord. He is a good Father to me, intentional in the way he gently encourages me and reminds me of his presence in my life. Truly, this week has been a reminder of the meaning of Immanuel, or God with us. God with me.
