An Interesting Trip, To Say The Least

I traveled to Bonnyville yesterday. Because I wanted to get underway earlier than Enterprise Car Rental was open, I picked up my vehicle on Wednesday night, and hit the road by 7 am on Thursday.

Highway 28 north and east of Edmonton is undergoing quite a bit of construction, with the speed limit being reduced to 80 km/h much of the way. I was travelling in a line of traffic, actually doing less than that posted limit, when I hit one of the biggest potholes I've ever experienced, right in the driving lane where a vehicle's passenger-side wheels would be. The picture shown is not the actual pothole, but probably similar.

Instantly the vehicle began to shudder. I knew I had a flat tire, so I pulled over to the shoulder, just past another abandoned car which, I assume, had undergone the same unfortunate experience. Getting out and walking around to the passenger side to look, I saw I actually had 2 damaged tires. The front one was completely flat and the rear one was low. I dug out the jack, spare tire and tire changing paraphernalia and went to change the front one. Because the shoulder of the road was sandy, and the vehicle sitting so low as a result of the flat, I had to dig out a space in the ground so the jack would fit under the rocker panel. While I was doing that, a tow truck pulled up behind me. He said he had to answer a call a bit further up the road, but would come back to see how I was doing. I expect his call was another flat tire from the same pothole. It was a bit of a slow and laborious process to get the front wheel off the ground, but eventually the tire was changed. When I lifted the tire into the back of the vehicle I noticed the rim was bent. I looked at the rear one and decided it still had enough air in it to travel a ways, so I hit the road again.

Within a couple of km's I saw the sign pointing to Redwater so in I limped. It was about 8:30 by this time, still too early for most business to be open, but there on my left was Drift Mechanical, a automotive mechanical, tire and detailing shop. I pulled in. Someone was there; they had come to work early on this day, so I had him check the rear tire. Turns out it had a sidewall puncture, so could not be repaired. However, he just happened to have a half-worn used tire in the back exactly the same size I needed. He gave me the tire and just charged me for the mounting and balancing, about $38.

So that was the first two hours of my day. And that is the first half of this post. I can't help but think that God had His hand in things. Not in the two flat tires, perhaps, but in the way that things just seemed to fit together to get me back on the road relatively smoothly. Two flat tires in the middle of nowhere could have been disastrous. The whole episode cost me only about an hour and I was able to keep every one of appointments in Bonnyville.

Some highlights:

• My first visit was with Pastor Trevor Schaffrick at Bonnyville Fellowship Alliance church. He is running Alpha for youth for about 45 teens, none of whom are from his church!
• Next was lunch with Pastor Corey Randell of Lakeview Gospel Centre. They ran Alpha in a restaurant on Bonnyville's main street. I just returned from a time in the Ireland, where restaurants would have someone standing outside their front doors with menus inviting passers-by to come in and eat. Lakeview did the same. They posted an Alpha banner over the usual restaurant sign and had someone on the sidewalk inviting passers-by to come into the, "Alpha Cafe," have supper and watch a video. They ended up having up to 70 guests and some very positive results.
• My next meeting was with Pastor Dave McClain of Bonnyville Baptist. This church has run 16 Alphas over the past few years, for both adults and teens. Pastor Dave mentioned that they had seen a 30% growth in the past year. Amazing, because many churches seem to be shrinking, especially in areas hard hit, including Bonnyville, by the decline in oil prices. I can't claim Alpha had anything to do with that growth, but it's nice to think it might have, or at least the heart for outreach exemplified by an Alpha church.

Pastor Dave told me an interesting fact. He referred to Alberta's, "Golden Triangle;" three areas with Alberta's largest oil reserves. The three points of this triangle are Fort McMurray, top right in the map, Grande Prairie, far left, and Bonnyville/Cold Lake, lower right. All have been hard hit by the decline in oil prices.

Just found it interesting, that's all.

Pastor Ken of Bonnyville Community Church holds a Pastors' Appreciation Lunch each fall. I have attended it two or three times. I've been impressed by the prayer that is happening among the evangelical churches there. They are praying, powerfully and regularly, for revival in the Lakeland district of Alberta, and I, with them, have a sense that God is ready to begin something powerful there. That was one reason for my trip there. At least two of the churches I spoke with are in various steps in the process of recovering from difficult situations. So the phrase that came to my mind is, "Renewal before Revival."

But I believe it will happen. 

That's it for now, other than my interaction with quite a shocked manager of my Enterprise Car Rental location when I returned.

Blessings,

John