Praising God for His Protection
Last weekend Chris preached at one of our supporting churches, Emmanuel Baptist Church in Snohomish. We always enjoy our time there as the members have worked hard to remember our names and faces, help our kids feel welcome (Susanna even remembered her last visit, two years ago, because she got to meet bunnies), and tell us of their prayers for us. They have a vibrant homeschooling community as well, and they appreciated Chris's joke about the "9,000 books" I packed in our crate last week.
As he gave an update about our year in language school, Chris shared about the car adventures we experienced at the end of our trip home, and he got a little choked up. Below he has shared a bit more about that time and what God is teaching him. -Rosalie
We have completed our time in language school down in South Texas and we are now back in the Seattle area. This was not accomplished without some unwanted, but very blessed, adventure in our lives. In the middle of December, we loaded up our car and the U-Haul trailer we were towing with what little we own and started the long drive back to the Pacific Northwest. Everything went very well and we almost made it all the way to our temporary home in Sammamish. Let me share the story behind my use of the word “almost”.
Before we moved to Texas we were in need of a vehicle that could tow a trailer so we could bring some of the items we needed with us. After looking around for a while we ended up purchasing a used Toyota Highlander through from a company based in Indiana. We had informed them that we needed a car that could tow a trailer and that we really only needed it to last us a year and the Highlander we purchased looked like it would work out very well for us. We knew that it was a little rusty but we didn’t feel that would cause any real problems.
Our car treated us very well. It brought us safely down to South Texas and was reliable for us the whole time we were in language school. This even included a month-long road trip in July 2017 which took us to 13 states (and 15 different cities) on the eastern side of the country. One of the few issues we had was early on in our time in Texas. There was a large amount of rattling from under our car and I brought it in to a shop to have it looked at. The mechanic informed me that the heat shield above the muffler had become so rusty that it was falling off of its bolts. When he started looking for a way to secure it, the heat shield simply snapped free. He had no way of putting in a new one due to the old bolts being rusted into place so he said that we should be fine without it since everything that was being protected had plenty of distance away from the muffler so that the heat shouldn’t affect them. This was very true for our entire time in Texas.
When it was time to drive home we loaded up our car and the trailer and, unbeknownst to us, we compressed the suspension enough that the muffler was now touching portions of the car that it should not. Everything finally came to a head when we arrived in Fife, Washington. I had noticed that the car was struggling to accelerate a bit and that is was making a strange growling noise. I knew that there must be some sort of issue but my plan was to get to Sammamish and then have the car checked out a day or two after our arrival. This was not to be.
Susanna, our 6-year-old daughter, stated that she needed to use the restroom so we pulled off of the freeway at a Chevron station in Fife. While Rose and Susanna headed for the restrooms I decided that I may as well fill the gas tank so we would have plenty of gas for the next day. Austin, our 4-year-old, stayed buckled in his car seat as I began pumping gas. While I stood next to the pump waiting I began to hear a splashing sound. I started off small and seemed to get louder and louder and I couldn’t seem to locate where exactly the sound was coming from. Then, I noticed gasoline pouring from under the car and beginning to form a large puddle at my feet. I heard Rose, who was returning from the bathrooms with Susanna, yell for me to stop. I stopped the pump immediately and ran to the other side of our car and very quickly unbuckled Austin and pulled him out of the car and got us all as far away from the car as we could.
During our drive home from Texas our muffler was resting up against our fuel tank and had slowly been melting a hole into it. That hole finally formed somewhere south of Fife when the fuel level was below the location of the newly forming hole. When I filled up the gas tank the gasoline reached the level of the hole and began spilling out of the car and onto the hot exhaust line and muffler. We were stuck. We called my parents and our roadside assistance. My mom brought Rose and the kids to Sammamish where they could settle in and sleep in our rental home. My dad and I would spend 6 hours at the gas station waiting for tow trucks and such.
The following day I went down to the auto shop that the car had been towed to. I was hoping that the care might be repaired so we could continue to use it for the time that we were going to be in the Seattle area. The mechanic then helped me realize how severe the issue had been and how blessed we were by our protective and loving God. He stated that he was very surprised that the car had not caught fire because by all rights it should have.
When I think of how different things could have been it is very sobering and also brings me to praise my God all the more. If the car had caught fire chances are that Austin and myself would have been hospitalized, or worse. I was standing in a pool of gasoline and Austin was buckled into his car seat with no way of getting himself out. God took care of our family in every way and we praise Him for the fact that we only had a minor inconvenience rather than a tragedy.
As I fill out visa paperwork and sometimes get frustrated with the delays and hiccups that can occur, I try to remember that God is beside us every step of the way. In little things and big things, He is watching over us. We thank each of you for your prayers for us as we make our way through this last phase before actually leaving for Spain. God has been, is and will continue to work in our lives. It may not always be as large an adventure as what we experienced on our return home, and honestly, I hope that it isn’t, but God is watching over us and you as well. Let us praise Him for His great protection and provision.
We ask that you pray for our visa application process and that we can successfully navigate through the necessary forms and papers efficiently so we can leave for Spain as soon as possible.
Please pray for our children as they are going through this transition of different homes and new friends and ways of life. We pray that they would adjust to Spain well and become a big part of our ministry
Keep our marriage in your prayers as well. I don’t ask this because we are having any particular marital struggle but because we both know that our enemy attacks marriages with great fervor. Ask God to protect our marriage and make it thrive as we seek to reach others for Christ.