July

Stepping out my front door, hot, muggy air exhaled in my face. Ugh. This was not what I wanted to encounter at 6:45 a.m. What was I hoping to face at that early hour? Jesus.

I took a few strides, starting my Jesus walk, before I realized our house was the only one on the block without our trashcan on the curb. I groaned. But I pushed that large, brown can to the curb. And as I did so, I saw the flat tire.

I froze. What should I do? Wake up my husband early? It’s his problem! Or continue on my Jesus walk? I paused long enough to hear Him tell me to walk with Him.

I strode down the street and turned left, headed toward my favorite path, around the park. The wind cooled. The clouds blocked the sun from view. When I reached the park path, huge crows stared down at me from their perch on the baseball fence. I hurried past them, staring at my feet, not making eye contact. I don’t like birds. Especially big, black, boisterous birds. But they followed me, cawing. A chill of foreboding ran down my spine. This is a bad omen. My mind raced, consumed with worries and stressors in my life. Flat tire. Dead battery. Failing brakes. Father’s Day expenses. Ill daughter.

And then I realized Jesus was not anywhere in my thoughts or on my walk. I had pushed him out of my way. I was attempting to make a plan to handle these issues on my own. Immediately, I turned to Him. He strolled by my side, silent and serene, as He had in Eden (“They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day,” Genesis 3:8a). Okay, not literally at my side, but I imagined He was, even if I couldn’t see Him. I confessed my fears and surrendered control. Then I fell silent.

He said, “I’m not here to keep you from trouble. But to walk with you through it.”

We walked together, neither speaking, enjoying each other’s presence. The wind died down. The sun peeked through the clouds. Oranges and pinks colored the fluffy clouds. In that moment, I knew this wasn’t the end. There would be more trouble. But as long as I had Him by my side, I would make it to the other side. With joy, peace, and freedom from fear.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,” John 16:33.