On Friday, December 7th, while I was at work, I got a phone call from my wife who was getting off her 3rd shift job. She was clearly frantic and frustrated and she exclaims to me, “I’m stuck! I can’t get the truck up the hill.” I reply, “Huh?” She said, “I’m at Sue’s house. You know how her house is at the bottom of a really big hill? It’s covered in snow and I can’t get up the hill.” I thought to myself, “Ohhhh! That’s what’s going on.” My wife continues, “…and you’ll have to come pick me up.” In my mind I was thinking, “Does she have any clue how much she’s inconveniencing me right now? I better give her some advice to get up that hill herself so I won’t be bothered.” I proceeded to give her some advice. As I’m going through a checklist of things for her to try she says, “Yes, I’ve done that. Yes. Yes. Yes. Look, my co-worker even tried driving the truck up the driveway and it still wouldn’t go up. We even talked to the neighbor next door and he said he’s been living at the bottom of the hill for years and there’s no hope of getting that truck up the hill. We’ve done absolutely everything; you’ll just have to pick me up and take me home.” At this point I was really frustrated because I knew I had no choice but to come over there. So I said to my wife, “Listen, I’m coming over there, but I’m not picking you up. I’m going to get that truck up that hill no matter what it takes.”

I proceeded to drive over there and I thought to myself, “I had better buy some salt so we can melt the ice and get some traction.” I stopped at a corner store and they had run out of salt. I stopped at a gas station and they didn’t carry salt. I stopped at Kroger (grocery store) and they were out of salt too. I stopped by another corner store, and found some salt! As I brought it to the counter, the owner said to me, “Oh, that’s not for sale! That’s my personal supply!” I cried out to God at that point in frustration and said, “How am I going to get that truck up that hill with no salt?” God spoke to me and said, “I have not provided you with any salt because I want you to give Me the credit when the truck comes up the hill.” I immediately understood that God was making a promise to miraculously reveal himself to me in this situation.

I gave up my search for salt and drove to the house Tanya was at. I parked at the top of the hill and walked down the driveway. It was covered with ice and frozen rain and was very slippery. On my way to the house God spoke to me and gave me detailed directions to follow. First, He said “Put Tanya in the bed of truck and make sure she’s sitting and won’t fall out.” Second, He said, “Back up the truck to the beginning of the drive way, put the truck into second gear, and hold the gas down gently.” So I helped Tanya into the bed of the truck, positioned the truck, popped it into second gear, and gave it some gas. We were going just fine about one quarter of the way up the hill, but then our tires began to slip. I thought to myself, “OH NO!” Then something amazing happened, even though the tires were slipping, the truck kept a steady and unwavering pace all the way up the hill. It was almost like God was pushing us up the hill!

I couldn’t tell you if God’s hand was actually on our truck, or if he just gave me some of his wisdom to get up the hill. But, I do know this: When God makes a promise, he WILL keep it. When God shows up and keeps that promise, give Him the glory!