IF YOU ARE GOING THROUGH HELL . . .

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult (Psalms 46:1-3).

Winston Churchill is said to have said, If you are going through hell, keep on going. We* did. On the return trip from California we lost our air conditioning in Bakersfield. It was 4:30 in the afternoon and 105 degrees. Our goal was to make it to Las Vegas before we quit for the night. So we opened the rear vent windows in our Chrysler minivan and headed for the Mohave desert where the temperature rose to 114 degrees. The hot dry air dried my eyes out. Though Helen and I made sure that we had plenty of water and ice, we couldn't keep cool. Sin City (Las Vegas) was never a more welcome sight as we arrived there. It was still 105 degrees at 9 in the evening. Next morning I called a technician who thought he found the source of the problem, but the needed parts could not be obtained. So, at about noon with the temp well over 100 we pushed on. Finally in the mountains of Utah we saw the temperature fall to under 9o and the air coming in the vents felt like air conditioning. It was cooler in Grand Junction, Colorado where we spent the night and visited friends the next morning. At about noon the next day we continued our journey home, stopping for lunch at Rifle, Colorado, where I served as pastor of the Christian Church and where our beautiful daughter, Rebecca was born. When we reach Vailed, Colorado, we encountered rain and much cooler temps, in the 50's, and a little rain. The elevation at Vail pass is over 10,000 feet. At the Eisenhower tunnel, elevation almost 12,000 feet, the temperature had dropped to 37 degrees and there was heavy rain, ice and snow. What made this dangerous was that the malfunctioning of the air conditioning would not allow the heater to work either. The windshield fogged over. I used paper towels to keep it clear as I could. I followed a slow truck down the mountain. Helen and the kids were wrapped in blankets, but I needed none, being too busy keeping things under control. By the time we reached Denver we were doing well and it was a cool and uneventful trip on home.

Churchill's quote came to my mind in the Mohave desert. When one is going through hell, there are not too many options but to keep on going. Churchill knew something of going through hell, suffering with severe bouts of depression** his entire adult life. He could never rid himself of the "black dog," as he called it, yet look at what he accomplished as an author and his life of public service. He did not allow the "black dog" to be his excuse!

What also must be said about going through hell is that the hells we suffer on this earth are only mini hells compared to the great hell.

Grace&Peace,
Tom

*Tom, Helen and our grandchildren, Alex and Samantha.

**Actually, Churchill suffered from what we know now as bipolar disorder, suffering bouts of deep depression and then great bursts of energy without losing touch with reality.