The Window Opening Mysteriously

          

           The cool, damp fall morning found me motoring into town. My once-a-week trip from the farm into town had an exhaustive list of errands to do. As I sang along with “Fear Not Tomorrow,” suddenly I felt air coming from the back-left window behind me almost simultaneously with hitting one of the many chug holes. I began to fear today! Without taking my eyes off the road, I moved my left hand to close the back-left window. Instantly, no more unwanted air blew onto me. I had hardly gone a quarter of a mile, hit a smaller bump, and sensed the same window was down. Instinctively, I reached to raise the window but unsuccessfully. Thoughts began emitting from my mind like fireworks exploding on fourth of July. Some of the thoughts blasting around me - The last time you had window problems was in the summer. It’s cold today. You went straight to the dealership. It was a pricey repair. Today you have responsibilities you NEED to fulfill. This is probably the end for your old car. You haven’t researched for car buying. Plus you have those two bags of trash. Lord, this wasn’t how I wanted today to go. FINALLY, Please stop me. Give me wisdom.

The Mysterious Open Window

By this time, I had pulled my car to a stop in a safe place. Hopping out, I opened the back door with the mysterious window. I breathed a prayer of relief upon instantly realizing the trash bag was the culprit rolling down the back window. As I re-positioned the trash bag to avoid a chilly ride the rest of the way into town, I said, “Thank you, Lord.”

Getting back into the car, I pulled onto the road. My mind rolled back to the years we cared for Dad. Many days found us in territory new to us. Moving from being a seasoned educator teaching third graders for over 30 years to an on-the-job crash course in caring for a stroke recovery patient. Even greater trepidation surrounded my transition from teaching little third graders to caring for large animals.. Novice provided the most accurate description when I assumed full responsibility for day-to-day cattle care. Suddenly being faced with “calling the shots” led to periods of anxiety and fear.

Mother kept many television programs on to build us up spiritually during those years. Reading, a hobby I loved, took second place to Dad’s care. I didn’t stop reading. I just read considerably less. During our care for Dad, I learned an acrostic from Zig Zigler, a motivational speaker. It impacted me so much that I posted a it on the refrigerator in large print.

  False

         Evidence

           Appearing
      Real

Acrostic attributed to Zig  Ziglar

Over the last several years, numerous times I recalled this powerful acrostic. The mysterious opening of the car window illustrated clearly the explanation given by the acrostic. The false evidence was the unexplained rolling down of the window. There was no person or animal in the back seat of my car. The only real evidence was the chilly breeze invading the car through an open car window. The only real explanation for me as I drove appeared to be a malfunction, but it proved to be false.

My little incident of the bag of trash opening the car window proved humorous to retell, but how many times do we allow our initial fear to dominate and propel us into ungodly or wrong thinking? Our perceived fear catapults us into worry, bypassing prayer that would affirm our trust in the Almighty God. Instead of reacting with faith in His control, we resort to weakening fear.
Ironically, I felt I had the opened window mystery solved when I pressed the window control on my car door. As if to remind me of how little control I have, the inanimate bag of trash opened the window again and kept me from shutting the cool air out of the car, no matter how diligently I tried to close it.

I thought I had control when I hit this!

Regardless of how knowledgeable, astute, and solution-savvy 21st century people may consider themselves, how humbling for me to realize a lowly sack destined for a landfill outsmarted me momentarily. 

Frequently, I find false evidence appearing real in my life. You may, too. As we include the Lord in our responses to the unexpected, may these verses encourage us this week when cold air blows suddenly into our lives.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, 
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

2 Timothy 1:11

Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.

Psalm 56:3