Growing up as a preacher’s kid wasn’t easy. Many know Ministry doesn’t pay well, so going on vacations wasn’t a regular summer outing for us. I remember just a hand full of times ever leaving our small town, but when we went somewhere, it was quite a memorable experience, to say the least.
On one of those trips, our family decided to go to Arkansas to see relatives. I remember we rented a 1992 Mercury Sable for the journey. It was light gray with light gray interior. The backseat had enough room for my sisters and I to divide our boundary lines quite well.
On this particular trip, we had just left our relatives house to grab dinner. It was the first time to take our Mercury Sable out during an evening spin. As we pulled out of the driveway, we hit a major four lane highway. While we passed cars coming from the opposite direction, we noticed people “brighting” us. Now that was a perplexing thing. For one, we didn’t have our brights on and two, that’s just plain rude if we had them on. I remember my sisters yelling, “Dad, you’ve got your brights on!” Dad insisted he didn’t and after the fourth person brighting us, he reached over and pulled the handle back to reveal the true value of that 1992 Mercury Sable’s headlight ability.
I will never forget it. All of a sudden, pure daylight! You could see for miles! I think we were all in a state of shock because not a word was spoken, until one by one we started to chuckle at this new revelation.
Now it was a game. Every time someone would bright us, we would laugh and turn to say, “show em‘ dad!” He would pull back the handle and that Mercury would light up the night!
I still cry laughing about that trip. I think the funny part was how the front headlights were designed on this car. Seeing pictures of it today make me chuckle. I can’t even tell you how many times someone flickered their lights at us, but what a sight seeing those headlights!
Psalm 119:105-106 ESV , says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.”
When I think of a lighted path, it reminds me of the 92’ Sable. I love how God’s word lights up a situation that seems so dark. When we face times of uncertainty and we don’t understand why certain things are happening or have happened, God’s word opens that situation into a lighted area of our soul.
Just like our 92’ Sable, which gave us tremendous light so we could see for miles, God’s word does the exact same thing. We start seeing for miles His hand and His plan. He starts revealing His very nature and reasons for what He is doing or will do. He exposes others sin against us and gives us warnings of what’s ahead. He convicts us of our wrong doing and corrects, to keep us in our lane.
Thankful for God’s headlight! May it light our pathway and illuminate our entire journey until we reach our final destination.
From a Traveler just passing through....