I am sitting in a hotel in downtown Seattle, in the midst of the worst artic storm they’ve seen in years. Dale and I left the Portland area yesterday at 9am, stopped to visit a friend in the SeaTac area for a few hours, and then at 8pm last night, we had only made it to the downtown Seattle area. I had need of a bathroom for those last 3 hours in the car, we hadn’t eaten much all day, and we had only gone maybe 10 miles in almost 4 hours! It was miserable, terrifying and most agonizing! Dale of course was calm, and patient - but the fact that I was struggling so much made him feel miserable too. I finally reached my breaking point after inching our way through a long tunnel, packed in there with hundreds of other cars and huge semi trucks….because I am claustrophobic. It’s not something that comes up all that often, but when it does - I’m done, call the paddy wagon!
Dale took the only exit we could and I prayed the whole way, as everything in Seattle is on a hill, and the ice and snow could make this a fast sleigh ride down to the Sound. I started praying that God would lead us to a place to eat and a hotel close by and definitely not down the hill. We turned one corner and went a few blocks and there, just to our left, was a beacon of hope! Strange that it was in the form of a Subway sandwich shop, but there it was anyway and who was I to question God’s reasoning. It was a beacon of hope for me, a potty stop and food all in one place - and I could have bacon with it! The men making our sandwiches seems like warriors to me, braving the elements to stay open just to rescue us. I wanted to kiss them - but the bathroom was more of a rescuer at that moment, so I left the poor men alone.
As we stood in line, letting these men build our sandwiches, I noticed the music playing in the background…a Christian radio station! This indeed was a beacon of hope. There were several others that had gathered here, eating and just getting in out of the storm; one gal had been riding her bike and was waiting for a ride. We asked about a hotel and were told to just go one block, and it wasn’t downhill! God is good - all the time! It didn’t take us long to wolf down our sandwiches and get that car going in the direction of a warm hotel room. It was a Marriott, with valet parking ONLY, and we didn’t care. Now my husband usually balks at spending money we don’t have to, but he didn’t even blink. We checked in, grabbed our bags and gave that young man our keys. Relief comes for many women in the form of tears - and I was on the verge of them for an hour, even after getting to our room. It had been a very long day.
It is only in the midst of a storm, that a beacon of hope is truly noticed. Many years ago, as we drove through Northern Idaho in pitch black of night, we kept noticing a light shining over the hills in front of us. It shone as a lighthouse over the ocean, hill after hill and it seemed that we would never actually arrive to find out the source. Finally we rounded one more curve, and found that all that light was coming from a tiny little town in the valley. I am quite positive, that had we been driving in the daylight, we would never have noticed it. Light always cuts straight through darkness, and a beacon shines it’s brightest when needed. This is probably why we cry out to Jesus in tough times, but don’t talk to Him a whole lot when things are going okay. This shouldn’t be! I’m going to work harder at making Jesus more of the constant companion He really is, than just my roadside rescuer.
Check-out isn’t until 12:00, so we are going to enjoy our Beacon for a bit longer this morning, and it even fed us for free, although Dale says breakfast cost $147! We’re waiting for the roads to get a little less icy, and then we’ll continue to our destination…which by the way - we are only about 20 miles from! Oh, and breakfast didn’t come with bacon, but there was plenty of sausage to eat!
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