Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you  pass through deep waters I will be with you; your troubles will not overwhelm you.”

It’s funny how many vivid impressions come with early encounters in new situations. Some First Church people will remember I spoke about this occasion some years back. Deep water indeed. We talk about floods but there were times in South Africa during my first ears there when bridges were washed out to the north and the south and we were to all intents and purposes on an island. It was during one such three day rain that I was scheduled to lead a service in an outstation of the Dweshula Church on the top of an escarpment. 

Alan Paton once said Natal Province was like fingers reaching for the sea. Well,this church lay atop a swollen knuckle. I was proud of the fact that I kept my appointments so early in the rain that Sunday I drove south on the coastal road until I came to the road leading to the church. The rain, now in its second day, was heavy as I reached the foot of the escarpment and began to drive up on a graveled road toward the top. I neither met nor expected to meet another vehicle and while my car slipped and spun a bit it managed the mountainside road to the top. I don’t mind admitting that I was deeply relieved to have made it to the top and the outstation. Sure enough people came though the downpour continued unabated. Inside the sheet iron roof and I had to shout to be heard. The rain, if anything, got heavier and as the service ended I was glad I would be going down from the escarpment, not up it.

I learned early to drive in snow and mud so it shifted into second gear and made sure I didn’t do anything sudden as I descended. Then it happened! As I rounded a bend in a very precipitous place there was a car that had ended up against the mountainside. But worse there were half a dozen people on the sheer side waving at me to stop and help them. I trod on the brake before I thought of what I was doing because although I doubted i could stop the distance between the vehicle and the people was little more than the width of my car. Immediately the car lost traction and turned sideways. I turned the wheel the other way and it swung about almost sideways the other way and those people were getting close. I didn’t touch the brake but turned into the skid and my car straightened out just as it reached the people. It slid between them and their vehicle and continued to slide down the hill until, some yards beyond it once more gained traction and took me to the foot of the escarpment. Then I sat and shook for some minutes. Then I had the wit to give thanks.