A Day to Remember

Our drive across Oregon into Nevada was rather uneventful and boring UNTIL....................
We drove from Winnemucca to Battle Mountain and had planned to go as far as we could toward Salt Lake City tonight. God had other plans. As we came up to the Battle Mt. exit, I noticed a parking lot of trucks on Route 80 for as far as the eye could see. I immediately slowed down and told the inhabitants of the car that we were getting off here to find out what was going on. We found a visitor's center and Ken and Jim went in to see what they could learn. They came out dejected and said there was a wild fire and I-80 was closed. The back up was for 51 miles. We began to search for a hotel. As we expected, each was filled to the brim. As we drove back toward the expressway, I said to the Lord audibly, "What do you want us to do?" We were hungry so we looked for a restaurant. The only thing we could find was a MacDonalds, not my idea of a good dinner spot. We each got a little to eat and then went to the car for the Skippo cards to wile away the hours. We were told it would be 18 hours at the least. We took our cards to a concrete table outside the restaurant so that those how were lined up for food could eat indoors in the airconditioning. It was 93 degrees. The sun was blazing on us and we eventually solved that problem by pouring ice water on our arms and wiping our necks and faces with it to give a cooling effect. We talked about how it would be if we had to sleep in our car. We decided to give thanks to God for MacDonalds. At least we felt safe in the parking lot and we would have a bathroon until their closing time. We had food available for that long as well and knew they would open early in the morning also. God was good. Eventually we decided to ride over to a church that we could see from the fast food joint. We found it was a Morman church and negated the thought of trying to have our daughter who was on the cell phone with us find that church on the computer and give us a number to call. We had seen a little steeple on a side street in town and I had commented that I wanted to ride by it to take a picture of it as I could see it was very old. It was built in 1872 we learned. We drove up to the church and a young gal perhaps in her early or mid thirties was getting some things out of her car. We thought perhaps she was another stranded motorist but then she began to walk toward the back door of the church. We opened the car window and called to her. She smiled and walked toward us. We told her our delimna and she said, " Would you like me to see if I can find someone of the church to put you up?" We said that would be wonderful. She walked into the church and was gone for a few minutes. When she came out she said an elder and his wife were coming to lead us to their home. Then she asked where we were from. We told her we were from De Motte Indiana. She said, "De Motte, really? I have relatives there". We asked whom that may be and it turned out to be a man that I went to school with in both grade and high school. It was uncanny. We then spent time talking about being a member of the Christian Reformed Church. We learned this church was and Orthodox Pres. Church. Her name was Sharla Heerema. By the time the elder and his wife got to the church, Sharma and we had become friends in Christ.

It turns out that the minister of the church is the son-in-law of the elder and his wife. They have taken us to their home and are putting Ken and me up in their home. Jim and Sue are staying in the preacher's home. The preacher's family is on vacation. Dena, the lady of this house said she put clean sheets on both her daughter and son in law's bed and on the guest bed here in her home today. She mentioned that a couple of times as she thought how God had prepared her. Jeff and Dena had been to the municipal pool tonight and seeing the huge parking lot on route 80 had commented that they wished God would send someone to their home for shelter and respite tonight. God is so good.

At present, Jim and Sue are alone at the preacher's house. Ken and Jeff are outdoors watching a new fire that has started just above their town. It is dark now and the glow of the fire is amazing. It appears that route 80 is moving again so hopefully we will have an open road to jump on in the morning. Dena has just gone to her friend to get some fresh eggs for breakfast. She got some sausages and bread from her daughter's house. It's looking like there will be a great breakfast in the mountain. Dena is a relaxed and gracious hostess and said she is excited about making a big breakfast.

Jeff and Dena have moved here from Seattle to be with their daugher and husband and their four boys. The daughter is pregnant again and is having a baby girl. They are very excited about this new baby. Prior to Seattle Jeff lived in Alaska for 20 years. They are kind of present day frontier people. Jeff is a technology expert and works from his home. At one point Jeff worked for Bill Gates. Dena is a music teacher and a piano teacher. Jeff has had innumerable major or traumatic experiences, one was that he was stranded on a mountain for several days.
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God grants us such wonderful experiences in life. Not our plan, but for one reason or another His plan was that we meet Jeff and Dena and enjoy great and gracious hospitality from fellow believers in Christ.