The Angel of the LORD

Ministry Update

"The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."
Psalm 34:7

After settling my family in with Sarah’s Mom and Stepdad in Troy, OH, I drove to Louisville, KY, where I am to assist Evangelist Byron Foxx with his National Leadership Conference. The weather was the worst driving weather I have ever seen. Not only is I-71 almost entirely downhill between Cincinnati and Louisville, but the counties/state also did not plow the roads. Not only was freezing rain my constant companion throughout the trip (which takes three hours under normal conditions), but I also had the great experience of skiing in four-wheeled vehicle over 2-4 inches of packed snow.

My average speed for the trip was about 35 mph except on one exceptionally long hill. I wasn't giving the vehicle any throttle, yet I found the car (I borrowed my Mother-in-law’s car for the trip) accelerating at an alarming rate. It was when I gently applied the brakes that I realized that my tires were no longer in contact with the road. For the first time in my life, I was actually skiing. I confess it was not nearly as fun as I have heard people make it out to be, but then again, it might have been different had I been on skis instead of wheels. I found the experience particularly perturbing when the back end of the car tried to pass the front end of the car going down the hill. Attempts to correct this attitude with the steering wheel gave initial promises of success at first, but soon proved worthless. I found myself copying the tactics of Russian Cold War submariners in a maneuver the US Navy sometimes calls a “Crazy Ivan.” In order that I might fully inspect the baffled motorists behind me, I spun the car in a complete 360-degree turn, finally stalling the engine and coming to rest on the left shoulder. In reality, I had voted against the Crazy Ivan but found myself in the minority, being outvoted by gravity and lack of friction.

The event ended rather anticlimactically, however. I simply put the vehicle in park, restarted the motor and continued at my normal speed of about 35 miles an hour. Nearly six hours after I left Troy, OH, I finally arrived in Louisville safe and sound.

Then, I tried to step out of the car onto the icy sidewalk and the real danger started…but that is another story.