Friday, February 02, 2007

Faith

I'm sure you've heard the analogy many, many times. Faith is like train travelling in the dark of night. The conductor only needs to drive the train to the edge of his light ... once he gets there, the light extends out further. James E. Talmage called this The Parable of the Owl Express.

Well today I had a similiar experience while driving into work. I live in Texas where the winters are mild. Snow and ice storms are rare. When we have one, usually the highways snarl to a halt with all the accidents. So people will usually stay home on those days. Every year, we see about one such winter storm.

Today we had our 3rd winter storm of the year and it brought the most snow ... at least in the north part of the DFW metroplex. As I stepped outside, I saw the ground and cars covered with two inches of snow. Normally I would stay home and work from home. But today I really needed to be in the office. I was a bit worried about how my 20 mile commute would go. But I cleaned off the ice and crept out of the driveway and on to the highways. The ice wasn't too bad, but the commute was slow. All along the way I kept saying to myself that if I could just get to the next stop light or next exit, then I'd reassess the situation. If all was OK, then I'd continue. If not, then I'd turn around. I did not know what lay ahead for me. I just kept going forward.

By the time I passed the airport, the roads were less icy and traffic was able to pass more quickly. By the time I was half way to work, the roads were completly dry and I was able to drive the speed limit without worrying about ice.

At work, everything was dry ... no ice or snow. It was crazy to think that such a big snow storm hit the area just 20 miles north. Had I stayed home, I would have never known that the commute would be OK. I would have been paralyzed by fear. But instead, I walked by faith as it were and I arrived at my destination without incident.