The Breath Of God

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God made me what I am, the breath of God Almighty gave me life! MSG

Two Friday mornings ago, July 28th, Kathy, Shawn, Sam and I were continuing our journey from St. Louis to Tucson. We spent Thursday night in Tucumcari, New Mexico. Earlier on Thursday, at one of our frequent fuel stops, (large rental trucks get horrible gas mileage) we got ice cream. Each of us got something different. I chose a soft ice cream cone. Within 30 minutes, I knew that something wasn't right. My stomach began to churn and I felt like I had the flu coming on. Even though I was able to eat supper that evening, I did not feel very good. That night I woke up very often, made frequent trips to the bathroom and started the day without a good night's rest.

On Friday morning, I took off in the large truck and Kathy stayed behind in our van with Sam and Shawn to return some Redbox movies and stop at a store. A few miles down the road, I began to get very sick, so sick, in fact, that I wasn't sure I could get to the side of the road safely. I was able to park okay, get my emergency flashers on, and slide over to the passenger door and get out of the truck cab. I can't remember any time when I have been sicker than this. I tried to sit on the narrow step, expecting a violent episode at any moment. At one point, I stood up, grabbed onto the seat support and laid my head on the floor of the truck. At that moment, all I could do was whisper "God, help me... God, help me". I felt like I could pass out at any moment and looked down at the gravel on the shoulder of the road and thought "I really don't want to do a face plant on that." As I continued to whisper "God, help me...", a soft, cool wind began to blow from my left side. Even though this was mid-morning, this is the desert, and it was already pretty hot. But there it was, a cool breeze that bathed me from my heat to my waist. I had soaked through my shirt by this time, and the cool breeze felt so good. As I continued to cry out to God, the breeze picked up, both in intensity and in coolness. At one point, it became a wind, again, just from my waist to my head. The waves of nausea began to lift, and I felt an unbelievable peace that God was with me, just me, on the side of Highway 40, between Tucumcari and Albuquerque, New Mexico. I finally let go of my death grip on the seat support and turned toward the direction that the wind was coming from. As I did that, the wind began to subside. As it subsided, I began to feel better physically, but spiritually, I was doing somersaults. God had met me in a real way on that highway.

By the time Kathy caught up with me, I had laid down on the seat of the truck to try and regain some strength. The nausea was all gone, and within 30 minutes or so, I was able to continue driving. We did stop early that day in order for me to go to bed and get a good night's sleep, and it took several days for all the poison to wash itself out of my body. On Friday and Saturday we experienced some vistas and geographical formations that were breathtaking. God's creative handiwork was very evident as we drove. In the back of my mind, however, was the undeniable fact that God, who created the universe and our world, had met me, personally, just me, and breathed on me. Awesome.