The days before, during and following the Christmas holidays are reported to be some of the busiest travel days of the year. The desire to spend at least some part of Christmas with those we love is a powerful motivation to pack up and deal with the hassles of travel in a cold and dark time of the year.
My husband and I and our two children (about ages 10 and 5) were on the way to my home town in Southern Minnesota for a Christmas with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, the whole crowd. There was great excitement and anticipation for this happy time, and the car was packed full with suitcases, gifts, winter coats and boots. It was a couple of days before Christmas and only late afternoon, but already fully dark, and we were heading west on Iowa Highway 3, somewhere east of Clarion. With no warning at all, our lights went off — headlights, dash lights, everything. There was no traffic coming or going, and it was unbelievably dark on that rural road. There had been no indication of any problems — no blinks or flickers — just . . . dark! The car ran fine — just no lights. We crept along slowly for a short distance, but not knowing the road, it seemed pretty risky. We felt like sitting ducks — someone could come along and plow right into us — there was little shoulder on this two-lane road.
It seemed like we sat there for quite awhile, trying to come up with some idea of what to do, when flashing amber lights appeared in our back window, and a beautiful, big orange Highway Department truck pulled up behind us. The driver got out, came up to the car and offered to lead us in to town, and we gratefully accepted. He pulled in front of us, kept those lights flashing, and we followed him in to town, where he led us to a motel, and told my husband how to get in touch with a garage in the morning, We fell all over ourselves thanking the man for rescuing us, and he just laughed, wished us Merry Christmas, and said he was glad he could be of help. I made a call home, we unloaded all our carefully packed things, and the next day we were on our way (in bright sunlight!) with a newly installed light switch.
Most of us have stories of unplanned adventures during holiday travel, but this experience has stayed with me in part because of the drama of that darkness. The Biblical references of Jesus as the light of the world, leading the people out of darkness into light, and being the light that overcomes darkness all dovetail with this little story, I’m also reminded of the old spiritual, “All day, all night, Angels watching over me.”
We surely felt that angels were watching over us that dark night, and our angel arrived in a big orange truck and a working man’s coveralls. But of course, this man would probably laugh at being called an angel — he was just helping out.
The Christmas celebration continues!
Mary Rogers