Driving was slow and rough at 50 below zero according to the thermometer in Whitehorse, on the AlCan Highway. It was New Year’s Eve and we had passed only two oncoming cars all day as brief hours of daylight faded. “Stay with your car if you go off the road,” the Mountie said as we left with a full tank of gas, headed toward Fairbanks.
When it happened, we were shocked. The snowplow had leveled loose snow. Peter said quietly, “Take the knife and find some brush to build a fire on the road. Headlights won’t see us down here. I’ll knock ice off the engine and try to get us started again. We probably have one chance….”
In ten minutes, my feet were numbing when I heard gears shifting in the distance. A huge trailer-truck slowed and stopped. The dark-skinned driver pushed me up into the warm cab and, without a word, unlooped the chain from his front bumper and pulled us back onto the road. Refusing our offer of payment, he said simply “Don’t pass anyone in trouble” and drove off into the night.
The Son of Man is coming unexpectedly, Jesus said, so stay awake.* Keep watch! Welcome the stranger. Be the stranger. We don’t know when or how it will happen.
-- Marjory Zoet Bankson, IO Editor
For More...
Read All Creation Waits: the Advent Mystery of New Beginnings by Gayle Boss (Paraclete Press).
