Sunday, March 4, 2000, was a day that radically changed the way I now think about prayer. It transformed my understanding of just how close God is to us. Before I share what transpired that day, let me paint a little backdrop for context.
It was a season blessed with remarkable opportunity and adventure, as I was touring the country with my band, Clear. We traveled relentlessly from city to city and state to state performing our music in a wide variety of venues. It was thrilling, rewarding, and EXHAUSTING. Our margin was slim in about every way you could imagine. Never any spare time in our travels to the next city. Never a surplus of income to allow us to take a breath and pause from touring. Never enough rest to adequately recover from the previous night's concert. I often summarize that period as simply, a relentlessly exhausting adventure.
So back to Sunday, March 4, 2000. There we were road-doggin' through Kansas in our 15-passenger van pulling a dual axle 14' x 7' trailer. (I know some of these details seem trivial, but hang with me because they're important to the story.) We were about an hour past Kansas City heading toward Wichita for a concert that night, still probably 90 minutes or so from our destination with no time to spare.
Suddenly, without warning, one of the wheels on our trailer starting smoking profusely. We immediately pulled over at the top of an exit ramp off the freeway. A few of us hopped out and found ourselves staring at a serious issue with one of our trailer wheels. We knew almost immediately that our trailer was toast, and we couldn't pull it without a repair.
Pause for a minute. Remember back in the day when there were no smart phones? Or even further back when we didn't all carry cell phones? I know it's hard to believe, but a mere 15 years ago that was our reality.
Unpause. So there we were. Stuck. Broken down on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere, Kansas. We couldn't troubleshoot this one. And of course since it was Sunday, there wouldn't be any shops open to give us a temporary fix to at least help us reach our destination. We were soooo frustrated. So exhausted. We felt defeated. It was time to pray.
I think I failed to mention earlier that we were a Christian band, so praying probably should've been the FIRST thing we did BEFORE brainstorming every possible solution that simply led us to one dead end after another. Anyhow, we finally reached the point of complete surrender and circled up on the side of the road next to our smoking trailer.
Our prayer went something like this, "God, we are stuck. We feel so defeated. There doesn't seem to be any solution here, so would you PLEASE help us RIGHT NOW!"
What I remember more than anything in that moment was that our prayer to God was desperate, sincere, and bold. Desperate in that we were at the end of our rope and didn't see any way to fix our problem. Sincere in that we believed God had the power and authority to help us in that moment. Bold in that we truly were asking God to pull off a miracle and fix our trailer right then and there, whatever that might look like.
Here's where it gets good. Stories range from 15 seconds to a couple of minutes, but either way, almost IMMEDIATELY after we said "Amen" and sat there on the side of the road, we noticed a truck pulling a trailer coming toward us on the intersecting highway. The trailer had some writing on the side of it. As it pulled close, we were able to read the sign: "Dan's Trailer Truck Repair, MOBILE UNIT."
What?!?!?!? We all did about four takes at this thing and started screaming and waving our hands at the two guys in the truck. Was this legit? Sure enough! Within two minutes, these two mobile repairmen were opening up their trailer full of tools to get to work on our trailer. A real-life, this-is-crazy miracle was happening right before our eyes! Before long, we were road-worthy and heading to our destination. The entire episode probably cost us 30-40 minutes. We ended up arriving safe and sound and had an inspired concert that night.
I've shared this story many, many times; I even keep the repair receipt in my drawer as a physical reminder. Every time I share it, it serves as a personal reminder of God's power, faithfulness, sense of humor, and relational qualities. It's also served as a catalyst for how I pray. I pray boldly because I know He is near. He hears our prayers. He answers. Sometimes it's not what we want to hear. Sometimes it doesn't make sense. Sometimes we don't hear it at all. But when it comes in a VERY direct mobile repairman form, I don't dare write it off as luck or coincidence. Instead I smile, and tremble a little, at how close God is to us, and thank him for who he is.
Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. (Hebrews 10:22-24)
