Bald Isn't Beautiful

Due to some circumstances, I have not been able to replace worn tires on my car. And now all four are bald with at least one preparing to blow soon. So far they have held out. And I have held off letting anyone else drive the car until I can get that fixed some day, some month.

Winter driving with bald tires has been quite stressful at times. Both stopping and starting have been a challenge many days. But I have stayed between the ditches with no collisions or heart attacks. God has been gracious.

Yesterday we got a heavy wet snow that left a layer of ice on most roads. I stayed at work until 6:30 p.m. hoping there would be less traffic for the hour-plus drive home. There was still some daylight.

In an effort to get to a freeway and plowed roads soon, I took my usual route. Yankee Doodle Road (a real name) is mostly up hill leaving the Minnesota River valley where I work. I slipped a little at the first stop light. But that was okay.

The next one was quite interesting. I stopped going up hill just fine. I was first in line. After the light turned green, I made little progress. Other cars ended up going around me. I even backed up a little after spinning towards the curb. Seeing little forward progress, I attempted to turn right on a mostly level side street. I did not even get that far before the light turned red again. I yielded to another vehicle and finally made some progress on the side street. I turned into an uphill driveway to turn around so I could back on to the street downhill. From the side street, I was able to get some momentum to eventually get up the hill. But that progress was mostly via bogged down anti-spin control and an occasional spin.

At the top of the hill, it was still icy. I made it safely through the intersections and down onto the freeway. The road home was slippery in many areas. I was content to make steady progress at 30-40 miles per hour. I was glad the rest of the route required no stopping, and especially not the usual stopping uphill in downtown Saint Paul.

So why do I share all this? Life is like that some days, some seasons. There are times we do all we can with all the resources we have. And still, progress appears to be minimal, if at all.

That can certainly be frustrating and disappointing. It can be confusing as well. Not all of life has a neat tidy ending. After repeated setbacks, there is a temptation to give up hope and quit trying.

But we must go on. God has kept us alive because he still has plans for us. So persevere we must. Most of the time those periods with little (apparent) progress eventually come to an end. And we can sometimes learn things from the experience in hindsight.

Some things in life we just need to move through hoping for better things ahead. I have had, and am in, some great challenges. You may be too. So I have to tell me, you, us, to not give up hope. Make those adjustments in direction and perhaps methods. Perhaps try another route to the destination. And maybe, just maybe, you will come out of the experience stronger and with new insight you could not have learned any other way.

Even with baby steps, keep moving forward.