4-Wheel Drive and the Gospel

Back in High School a good friend of mine and I decided to drive up to the Park City area and enjoy a day of skiing with my Dad and brother. They were already in the area so we drove my little half-battery half-gas Honda Civic. On the road up the sky was blue and the roads were clear and we felt confident driving up the windy road to the ski hill. All day we enjoyed the mountain and the beautiful slow falling snow that had begun. We hardly thought about the drive home.

Suddenly the weather took a turn for the worse. It began to snow and blow fairly hard. A little nervous about our inexperience with driving in the snow, my friend and I decided it would be best if we left early and headed home. My Dad, always looking for an opportunity to spend time with his kids, invited us to eat dinner with him around the Heber area. We would be down most the mountain and the canyon after that was well traveled. He was leaving by plane and thought we would all be safe and sound-an hour dinner wouldn't change much. Happily we took him up on the offer and enjoyed a nice meal together, not heeding the rising snowfall around us. Reality hit hard the second we walked out the restuarant and found we were in the middle of a full blown snowstorm. Our car was burried and the doors were frozen over so that it took some effort to get them open. Being from a desert we had no shovel, no scraper, no 4-wheel drive, and no chains. Yet, we had no choice. We had to get off the mountian. Bravely my friend offered to drive and off we went.

It didn't take much time for panic to set in. We were sliding all over the road and the semis on the road with us were fishtailing all over the lanes. My brother who had left ahead of us called to make sure we were ok; it was a bad storm to be driving in-especially in a little Civic. Well, for those that know me they won't be suprised I lost my head. Thinking I should find a way to get out of this I quickly suggested we call someone to helicoptor us out. That's how much I wasn't thinking straight. I literally thought that was an option. I figured all the money I had saved in college combined with my friends savings should pay the bill. We could leave the car here for all I cared. My friend as gently as she could told me that propably wasn't an option. So instead I called my Mom to tell her goodbye and that I loved her. She of course was a little unhinged by my call, but she told us to just drive slow, nothing too bad could happen at 15 mph. In the moment, I begged to differ, but we forged on with no other choice.

As evident by this blog we both lived. In fact we made it unscraped and unharmed; and it only took us a few extra hour drive. We collapsed gratefully in bed; grateful for our lives.

A few days ago I had a similar experience of being a passenger driving through a bad storm, only this time I was in a 4-wheel drive Chevy Colorado. I had a shovel, good tires, and an experienced driver in the truck. The whole time I looked back and thought of how different my first experience driving through a storm had been. Why? The storms were equal in snow, wind, windy roads, ice: and both times we were traveling at night. The situation was as similar as you can get, and yet, I felt at peace this time. That is how our lives can be when we fully utilize the gospel of Jesus Christ. When we put our trust in Him and fully use the Atonement through the Restored gospel we are in essence trading in our Civics for Colorado's; our half-battery cars to 4-wheel drive trucks. The storms of life will not ever go away. That is part of mortality. But when we equip ourselves properly we need not fear accident, death, or any other calamity. We can be assured of our safety and we can know we will eventually complete our journey and rest in the love of our Savior in eternal and everlasting life. That is what the tools of the gospel can do for each and every one of us, and if we utilize them, when a storm hits, we can drive without fear, for we know that the Lord will enable and protect us no matter what.