A Prayer on the Highway

by Rick Blumenberg / @rickblumenberg

It was late on a Sunday evening in the early seventies and we were traveling home after a week at Anderson (Indiana) Campmeeting.  Carol was driving, with Kathy and Twyla, our two young daughters sound asleep in the back seat as we drove through the darkness toward home. It was a dark and stormy night, (sorry about that Snoopy) with wind whipping the car and rain pelting down. The highway had recently been resurfaced and was not yet painted with warning stripes so it was difficult for Carol to see.

I offered to drive but she said no, it was alright, so I leaned back against the seat and the window on the passenger side of the car and as we drove through the darkness I felt more than a little apprehension, so I began to pray. I asked God to be with us as we traveled, to watch over us and keep us safe from harm. Next I prayed for the other motorists on the highway, those we met, with bright lights that almost blinded us and those who followed behind. I prayed he would keep them alert and careful in their driving and bring all of us safely to our homes.

As I prayed, I sensed God's Presence there in the car with us and with it came a genuine sense of assurance. I allowed my mind to expand from the highway on which we were traveling to other highways and other places and ask God to watch over them all. Then I pictured God in my mind as a loving Heavenly Father who was looking down on our world from heaven. As I prayed I asked him to encircle our entire globe with Divine love and blessing. I prayed for the troubled areas where people were fighting and asked for peace. I prayed for famine stricken regions, that food would be provided until the rains would come and the crops could grow again and that there be bountiful harvests.

I prayed that God's love might be experienced by every earthly creature and that God's kingdom might indeed come and that God's will might be fully and joyfully done throughout our earth just as it is done in heaven.

Somehow I knew that my prayer was, at least partially, being answered. I felt a sense of awe that the Creator of the heavens and the earth was not only willing, but eager, to work through my prayers and the prayers of a multitude of others, to accomplish his good will throughout all the earth. What a privilege to pray and thus work together with God.

I'm Rick Blumenberg . . . and that's My View from Tanner Creek.