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Be strong and bold; have no fear or dread of them, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. –– Deuteronomy 31:6
“You are my servant, I have chosen you and not cast you off!”; do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. –– Isaiah 41:9b-10
Along I-17 in Northern Arizona, you are greeted with a yellow road warning sign that says ––
STEEP GRADE
AHEAD
NEXT 18 MILES
Wait. What? We were preparing to descend down a steep mountain for the next 18 miles. That’s one long hill! Now, the kid in me immediately thought –– Wow! If covered in snow, that would make for an awesome ride on a sled! Of course, our trip down would be good for the gas mileage and hard on the brakes. In addition it would be hard on the nerves for a long-haul trucker. A former trucker told me how terrified he was the first time he descended the mountain from Fancy Gap on I-77, and that is but a third as long as the slope we were on, and the grade on Arizona’s I-17 is nearly ⅓ steeper. There is actually a YouTube video of a trucker getting ready to make this descent, and the first comment below has someone saying, “I felt those sighs before you got in. I moved from Indiana to Phoenix back in August. I was driving a Uhaul for the first time. It was a 20-foot truck and I was towing my car. I saw the yellow “Steep downgrade 18 miles 4% - 6%” and I started crying … I knew it was coming, but I didn’t know how bad and my anxiety took control … I laughed like a psychopath.”
And here’s the kicker, as you continue descending this intimidating slope, you come across another warning sign, saying ––
RUNAWAY
TRUCK RAMP
10 MILES AHEAD
10 miles ahead - Are you kidding me! If I was driving a Kenworth semi hauling a mobile home and my brakes were failing, telling me I’ll get relief 10 MILES down the hill, I’m not thinking I’d find much comfort in that. It’s not like your passenger going to say, “You’re almost there. Just a little bit more. You’ve … got this.” That’s like the headline I read about something that won’t happen until 2028. It said, “Just 1327 days left.” I think if I survived that drive in a semi on a windy day, I don’t know that I would ever jump in a truck again!
Do you ever feel like your runaway life is rolling down the mountain without any brakes, and you have another 10 more miles to go before there is an emergency exit? Drama at the office, chaos in the house, the MRI indicates surgery is coming, your aging parents are in that stage of perpetual crisis, and your dog ate the leg off your grandmother’s table.
RUNAWAY
LIFE RAMP
10 MILES AHEAD
10 miles! You don’t think you can make it 10 steps! Your life is a Doobie Brothers song title, How Do the Fools Survive?
When Paul said, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” he wasn’t claiming to possess Superman’s powers. No, Paul, knowing life even on our good days can be hard, and that we were never meant to survive on our own. God’s strength grants us capacities far beyond our perceived limits. He learned this from the faithful saints who preceded him, and knows how God’s strength sustained him through a litany of traumas.
“Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” 10 miles? When help or relief seem a long way off, know that the Lord is near, and the Lord’s strength is vast.
The author of Ephesians understood –– “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
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