God or Just An Anomaly?

We had just left a Fiesta Bowl party at a friend’s house. (OSU’s Pokes won by the way, which made the time spent with friends even BETTER!). We got in my truck for the 12-mile trip home, but when I turned the key in the ignition…NOTHING! What the heck!

My truck is a 2009 Toyota Tacoma I purchased brand new in December of 2008. Other than changing the oil every 3000 miles, installing a high-performance 50k mile air filter, and servicing the transmission once, the vehicle has run flawlessly. Never had a single problem. In fact, it’s NEVER failed to start on the very first turn of the key. So, what was the deal?

When we got in the truck, the interior lights came on, but the dash was completely dark and the radio wouldn’t work. I tried to start the truck several times, but it didn’t even attempt to turn over. “Great,” I thought, “the battery’s dead.” But I hadn’t noticed anything prior to this moment that indicated trouble ahead. The battery is the original, but geez, I figured it should be good for more than EXACTLY THREE YEARS!

Other people were filing out of the party house, so I knew we weren’t exactly stranded. However, I didn’t have any jumper cables and had no idea if anyone else did either. “What are we gonna do?” Dana asked. “I have no idea,” I responded. We had been sitting in the truck for about a minute. Sighing heavily, I turned the key–in my mind, one last time before jumping out to find someone with jumper cables–and the dash lights came to life AND the engined started IMMEDIATELY! I revved the engine a couple of times, mumbled “now that’s bizarre,” put the truck in gear, and we started home.

OK. Maybe I’m reading more into the situation, but it’s times like this I wonder: was that God intervening for some reason? Was there a reason we needed to be delayed for that minute in order to avoid an accident or something? Had we just been prevented from being at the “wrong place at the wrong time?” Dana and I talked about it most of the way home. I thought to myself as each car passed, “was that the vehicle that may have cut in front of us a couple of miles back had we already been on the road?”

Was it God or just a quirky, electrical anomaly? I have no way of knowing for sure, but I didn’t hesitate to thank God that night for His daily protection and provision.

By the way, I drove the truck several times today, and it turned over and started, every time, the FIRST TIME.

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