We were hoping to make it to St. George, UT today but didn’t quite get there. We didn’t even make it to Interstate 15!
As we left Beaver Creek, CO this morning, we still had the chains on the truck. I was up early just to make sure they were secure and ready for the grades. The snow was falling steadily and the skiers were lining up to catch the shuttle to the top of the slopes. We were praying that the snow would just go away!
We left the village of Avon and pulled onto Interstate 70 heading west. I had already checked the road conditions for several of the towns ahead of us and things looked like they were improving. The grades were not nearly as bad as the stretch from Denver to Beaver Creek…slow, gradual and steady. We pulled over around Eagle and removed the chains because the road were in good shape.
We drove through some snow, on and off, for a few hours. It didn’t get really bad until we came into Utah. We made a long climb up a steep grade. The higher up, the colder it got. The colder it got, more snow came down. There were several times that we just moved very slowly – creeping along the roadway.
We pulled over in Richfield, UT to get some food and fuel. We were about 3 hours short of our planned stopping place. As we headed toward the canyon and the final 30 miles of Interstate 70, there was a large flashing sign that read ICY ROAD CONDITIONS NEXT 17 MILES – EXTREME CAUTION. After the experiences of the last few days, I just couldn’t do this again so late in the day. We turned around, drove back to Richfield, got a hotel, and called it a night.
One of the more difficult parts of our journey today was driving through the snow and fog. The visibility was low at times and, given the hills and grades, there were many times that you couldn’t tell where the road was going – were there turns? slopes? hills? declines? There was no way to tell until you were almost into the process. But the one that that I was confident about is that there was a road ahead of me and it was going in the direction I needed to go to arrive at my destination. I didn’t know the details, only that it was there.
It struck me that this is a lot like life. Sometimes we don’t know where the road is going. And it takes faith to keep moving forward when you’re not sure WHERE “forward” is or WHAT is ahead of you. But, as a Christ-follower, I do know there is a plan – a “road” of sorts – ahead of me that is going to get me to my final destination. I might not know the details, the twists and turns; but I do know that I’m heading in the right direction and will, eventually, arrive in the right place. I think that’s what faith is all about.
The writer of Hebrews put it this way in chapter 11 (the Message):
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see…By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going.
I’d never compare myself to Abraham of the Old Testament but, today, I felt like I was traveling to an unknown place with no idea where I was going.
Tomorrow, we have another long day.