October 17, 2006
To lead or follow...that is the question
Driving alone in the mountains late at night during a state-wide blizzard I found myself stuck behind a car creeping along at 35 miles an hour. Even though the highway striping wasn’t visible through the snow, I mustered the courage to pass. Just as soon as I took over the lead position mesmerizing daggers of snow shot directly into the windshield and I knew why the other car traveled so slowly. Struggling to see the road, I took my half out of the middle of the highway. While I was now under more stress, I pictured the other driver finding relief with a set of taillights to follow. With my new role I added an unimpressive 5 miles an hour to the trek. Sometimes we need to take the lead, but other times God wants us to be content with just following.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Gail;
----That story is so familiar to all of us. The first question that I address in a lead-or-follow dicesion is: who knows the rules? Like games, every situation is played by a set of rules, whther they are formalized or not. When you took the lead you found that you knew the same rule he did: go slow. If everyone adequately knows the rules, the second question I address is: who knows the road? Experience makes for great advantage. I was crossing Loveland pass in a white-out one year. Fortunately a plow had been over the road ahead of me, so I had a four foot, freshly cut bank of snow to my right by which to guage the whereabouts of the road. I got a bit confident in that bank, so that, although visibility was only twenty feet, I was doing about twenty five mph.
Suddenly the bank of snow came exactly perpendicular into my headlights. I am now experienced with plowed off cut-outs on Loveland Pass. If everyone seems to know the rules equally, and all seem to be similarly experienced, I just look for whoever was out in front first. I got into a total white-out between Delta and Grand Junction in 1990. Thankfully, a car was ahead of me. I stayed no further than fifteen feet behind him. Even at that distance the only sign of that car was the shining tailights. For several miles I was full aware that neither of us had any business being in motion. I knew that without him being there first all I could have done was park and hope nobody behind me was trying to proceed. I pondered much during those few miles about how he could make the road out through the blanket of snow. I trusted that he was praying and the Lord was showing. I never gave it a thought till now that he could have been an angel and I was out in front.
Post a Comment