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the power of Mr. Gravel

We were visited by a blizzard yesterday. The snow started to come down in the morning and it did not stop till late at night. About 35 centimetres of it. Mid-afternoon, I decided to take a walk around and snap some photos. It was beautiful and wild and difficult to walk around in (at one point I sunk in up to mid-thigh level) and hard to see through, and I was soon wet and cold and out of battery power.

We had a Christmas function downtown that we had to be at around 5 pm which meant we should probably leave by 4 pm to allow for the bad roads. Dean brought out the shovel just after 3:30 and managed to make a minor dent in the heap the city snow plow had deposited at the end our driveway. He came inside after a short while and said there was no way he could clear the massive volume of white. He started my car which was parked outside, and in an attempt to free it from a snowbank, managed to get it good and stuck in the drifts behind it. We really were not going anywhere unless our snow removal guy showed up and rescued us. So for the next 20 minutes or so, Dean shovelled the front steps, cleaned off my car, and mostly just stood outside and gazed down the road, hoping to see the green tractor coming. I called Mr. Gravel's number but all I got was a message saying he was out clearing roads. I stood inside by the window, asking God to please send the deneigement guy in time for us to get to our function. We were helpless, utterly helpless to do anything.

At 4:11 the John Deer tractor sped down the road towards our house and even the cats were smiling at the arrival of the noisy snow blowing machine. He quickly cleared a path to the garage and removed most of the drift behind my car. He then leaped from his heated cab and motioned towards my car. I hurriedly pulled on a jacket and some boots and ran outside. While I steered and pushed pedals, the French man and Dean pushed and pushed some more and my car was free! I pulled out of the way and Mr. Gravel and his magic red snow machine finished clearing enough space for both cars to exit and enter and then hurried on to his next customer. What we could not have done in two hours, he did in two minutes.

We arrived at our function 5 minutes later than we normally would have.

I know that though I profess to trust God, I still prefer the kind of trust that does not leave me powerless or totally dependent and in fact downright sunk without some divine intervention. I like to have options or plan B. But really, what kind of weak faith is that? I might as well start realising that all my efforts and cleverness do not amount to anything without the power and grace of God. Teach me to trust more and worry less.

This is a picture of some reeds in the ditch behind my house during the blizzard.

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