This weekend, my wife and I took one of those walking tours of different cities in Alabama.  This weekend it was the great town of Scottsboro.  There was also another purpose for going there.  We have some friends, Richard and Susan, who we were stationed in Germany with from 1971-1974 that operate a restaurant there.  So after the walking tour of the immediate vicinity of downtown Scottsboro, we headed to meet our friends.  If any of you have ever met friends from bygone years and been able to start your meeting again right where you left off from so many years ago, you’ll understand how much of a joy it was to see our friends again.  What great fellowship we had for 5 hours!  If we hadn’t had to leave Susan and my wife would still be talking.  And, the truth be known, Richard was the best company commander I ever had.  He was very thorough and made sure to train and take care of all his people.  That type of attitude made the company and now makes his restaurant team succeed.  It reminded me of a story.

 

In the fall of the year, Linda, a young woman, was traveling alone up the rutted and rugged highway from Alberta to the Yukon.  Linda didn’t know you don’t travel to Whitehorse alone in a rundown Honda Civic, so she set off where only four-wheel-drives normally venture.  The first evening she found a room in the mountains near a summit and asked for a 5 A.M. wakeup call so she could get an early start.  She couldn’t understand why the clerk looked surprised at that request, but as she awoke to early-morning fog shrouding the mountain tops, she understood.

 

Not wanting to look foolish, she got up and went to breakfast.  Two truckers invited Linda to join them, and since the place was so small, she felt obliged.  “Where are you headed?” one of the truckers asked.

 

“Whitehorse.”

 

“In that little Civic?  No way!  This pass is dangerous in weather like this.”

 

“Well, I’m determined to try,” was Linda’s gutsy, of not very informed, response.

 

“Then I guess we’re just going to have to hug you,” the trucker suggested.

 

Linda drew back.  “There’s no way I’m going to let you touch me!”

 

“Not like that!”  The truckers chuckled.  “We’ll put one truck in front of you and one in the rear.  In that way, we’ll get you through the mountains.”  All that foggy morning Linda followed the two red dots in front of her and had the reassurance of a big escort behind as they made their way safely through the mountains.

 

Caught in the fog in our dangerous passage through life, we need to be “hugged.”  With fellow Christians who know the way and can lead safely ahead of us, and with others behind, gently encouraging us along, we, too, can pass safely.

 

Blessings for the day!

CH Mike