“Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!” (Psalm 31:19, ESV)
It was November 1995, three months after the passing of my fiancé, and I was traveling in Europe to finalize some of his affairs. After meeting with his colleagues in Warsaw and Torun, Poland, I was next on a bus to visit his friends in Berlin. The meeting place and time were interrupted in Poznan, Poland, where the bus was detained. Passports were collected and the underbelly of the bus was raided by authorities going through suitcases, one by one. The interruption lasted for four hours. Cell phones were not available at that time so I could not alert my parties about the delay.
Finally, we left Poznan after authorities discovered the smugglers with cigarettes they were planning to take across the border. The driver had my destination and at 4:00 a.m. dropped me off with luggage in Michendorf, Germany. It was very cold and dark, an empty station, no hotel as I had expected, and a phone booth I could not use. I took a breath and said the Celtic prayer: “Ok, Lord. You’ve gotten me here. Now please let me get out of this.” Headlights came towards me in the distance and there I was, me in a foreign country, putting out my thumb to hitchhike a ride and hoping the driver would stop. He did, to my great relief, and he spoke English. I showed him my destination papers. He shook his head and told me that the bus driver had dropped me at the wrong stop, but he knew where I had to go. In fact, he said it was on his way. He loaded my luggage in his trunk and we were on our way. He was a businessman getting up early to beat the traffic.
When I arrived at the still-open restaurant, there was a note from my friends asking the staff to call them once I arrived. The friends came and I was gratefully taken to Berlin on the Autobahn (frightening at over 90 mph) and then I was tucked into bed.
God had given me a kind stranger, an angel to rescue me. The Lord again had proved his goodness and faithful love through the stranger’s act and the acts of others. His grace is abundant in both good times and times of trial. Nahum 1:7 affirms this, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.” I didn’t have time to “sweat it.” I prayed, the headlights came; my thumb was a quick reflex out there. Whew! Thanks be to God!
© 2023 by Barbara R. Williams-Hubbard