30% Chance of .......?

   Traveling yesterday presented an interesting situation.

   We left Chattanooga early, got to Franklin in time to have lunch with friends, then back on the road again to go toward Arkansas. We got the weather for Conway (our destination) before we left that morning, 30% chance of snow flurries and a wintery mix, so did not think too much more about it until we called Donna early in the afternoon while traveling down I-40 toward Memphis.

   She informed us that they had changed the forecast, but that if we did not dally around and come on straight there, we might beat the winter stuff. So we did, got through Memphis on on into Arkansas. Only 150 miles to go once we crossed the mighty Mississippi, and we were on a schedule to be there in Conway by 7PM.

   Just before reaching Little Rock, with 30 miles to go, we began to see snow flurries in the headlights. They got heavier the more we drove west. We could see the road beginning to get stuff on it, but the snow seemed dry, and it blew around as the traffic passed. Two exits and maybe 20 miles before we could get off at Conway, we got in a lot of traffic, and then it stopped. Both lanes inched along at a snails pace while we watched the eastbound traffic moving well.

   For what seemed like a long time we moved, and waited, and moved and waited. I thought I might get off at the next exit and take the state route to Conway, but when I saw it was still 8 miles away, I knew, at the pace we were moving, that could take hours.

   An ambulance passed us on the shoulder and then a police car. Great, maybe they could get whatever was in the way, out of it, and then we could proceed. Then we began to move, 5 mph, then 10, then 20, then 30 and 40. Where was the problem? We never saw any trouble and did not see the emergency vehicles again either.

   All I could think of during the time we poked along were the pictures of the gridlock in Atlanta a few days earlier, when they got a few inches of snow. People were stranded in their cars for 4, 6, 8 even 20 hours. Cars ran out of gas and had to be abandoned, and I did not want either of those scenarios to be us.

   So, we prayed that somehow we could make it to our destination, and that it might be quickly, before it got any worse.

   Instead of being warm and filled in Conway at 7PM, it was 9PM, and we were so glad to finally get there. The rest rooms at the filling station when we got off the freeway at last, were very welcome to say the least.

   What was the news as we woke up from a great sleep on this morning? Headlines in the Little Rock paper told of gridlock there on the roads, happening just 30 minutes or so after we passed through. Snow on the car and ice and about 2 inches on the ground.

   Besides being extremely grateful for our safe and not too late arrival in Conway, we knew that we were not in control. Neither were the weather people on the internet and TV. Not Mother Nature either. Only God, and we are thankful that we did not dally on that road.

   Thank You, God, for all You did and have done in our lives, including last night.

   For sure!