Jim Van Gelderen: Welcome to the Thee Generation Podcast. This is Jim Van Gelderen, and I am podcasting from Poland, Ohio, which is over near Youngstown. 

My wife and I are about to begin a revival meeting tomorrow here at Gospel Baptist Church. Certainly looking forward to God doing great work here. We have just finished our spring tour here in 2023. Had a wonderful time. 

Some of you listening may have been a part of one of the War of Special Forces, in several different states and places. We are certainly just praising the Lord for many lives touched, souls saved, and just gentle encouragement. 

I know the team was certainly stirred. I think we all grew as we watched the Lord work in us and through us. And perhaps one day you’ll be able to be a part of a War of Special Forces if you never have been. 

You can look on our website, https://warsf.org/, and it’ll give you the fall itinerary, and perhaps you might be close to one of those places and can join us. We’re largely gonna be out west next fall, though we will be in Indiana for one meeting, as well as Florida for a few. 

Well anyway, I just wanted to continue on a series that I took a little bit of a break from, called My Journey. And I wanted to just share a situation that occurred back in 2005. 

One of the things that happens in ministry, or evangelistic ministry, is: You travel. You obviously gotta get in a vehicle and travel from where you were the previous week to where you’ll be the next week. And so every week we have what we might call a “travel day.” 

Now I grew up in a pastor’s home so we didn’t do a lot of traveling unless it was vacation time. I will say that I always loved vacation. We largely took trips to Florida where my dad grew up or Colorado where my dad pastored previously. Those were the two places, and, of course, a lot of memories with those vacations. 

But when I began to travel in evangelism, I realized that life on the road was different, and yet I thoroughly enjoyed it, and have over these years loved being on the road. But one of the things on the road you have to realize is sometimes there’s incidences, and you have to recognize there’s a need for safety from the Lord. The Bible tells us “safety is from the Lord.” I certainly believe that.

And yet sometimes God allows things that are challenging on the road. It could be from something as simple as a flat tire. I remember one time I had two flat tires, which means you don’t have a spare on the second flat tire. And so those kinds of minor trials on the road and sometimes more major. 

And it was 2005, and it was October 8th, and we were traveling in the state of Wyoming on Interstate 80. We were moving from the western part of the state more toward the east. Very windy day out there. If you’ve ever been to Wyoming, that’s not unusual. They even have big signs up about the wind there on Interstate 80. 

And we were towing a 35-foot travel trailer, and it was a one-ton van that was towing it. And we were heading into Rawlings, Wyoming, from the west. In fact, it was actually mile marker 192. And a microburst hit that big broad side of that 35-foot RV, as well as a semi was passing us and kind of creating a vortex. 

I’m not sure all the ins and outs of what created it. We were also going downhillーwhich if you know anything about towing, it does present a challenge if the trailer begins to go faster than the tow vehicle, so to speak.

And well, the trailer began to weave like a tail of a dog. And we had a van behind us with our team in it. And they, of course, saw that began to kind of weave back and forth, and it got worse and worse. 

And it was a situation whereーI don’t even remember to this day exactly what I did. I believe I just put my hands on the wheel and probably pumped the brakes. I don’t remember all that. I don’t remember a lot of the details because it was extremely traumatic. 

But the trailer pushed us onto the median which miraculously was flat at that point in the highway. I’ve been on that interstate 80 many times, and for miles on either side there’s a V in the center of the road. But there it was flat like a football field. It was a fairly large section that was flat; and the two lanes, the eastbound, westbound, were farther apart. 

And we went on to that flat section and somehow the RV popped off the ball and fell over. And when it did, the momentum was going so fast that it literally ripped the travel trailer off of its frame, and it flipped. 

It was going so fast it dug into the earth, and it flippedーso cartwheeledーso that when we got out went back, the back of the trailer was the closest to us. It just cartwheeled. We didn’t see that but that’s clearly what happened. 

And then the trailer frame went all the way on itsーgot off the wheels and was now being dragged by the chains that were holding it to the tow vehicle. When we got out, obviously, we were all shaken up. 

My three daughters were in car seats. I had a teacher with us, [and] my wife. Of course, we were all shaken because it was quite a traumatic event. And there’s a lot of things that happened, but the miracle of it is this, that it even popped off the ball. 

I’ve talked to many people along the way that have said that many times when the tow vehicle, or I say the trailer goes over, the tow vehicle goes over as well, but it didn’t… it popped off the ball, but it was actually locked onto the ball. 

We never found the lock….. Plus the fact the hitch was not mangled. And somehow, miraculously, God pulled that thing off. I kinda joke sometimes that when I get to heaven, I’m gonna have a guardian angel pull out of his pocket that lock and show it to me. Wouldn’t be surprising to me. 

We never found the lock, like I mentioned; but we, of course, because of the trailer wrecking, things were literally being blown all over the highway. It was very windy days. I mentioned part of the thing that may have caused the situation to escalate. But at that particular pointーit’s almost a blurーbut we saw God intervene over and over. 

And we made a few phone calls let people know what had happened, and somehow somebody got a hold of a friend of mine from college who had a ministry about 30 miles away. He came with an empty trailer that we could put some of the stuff in. Said, “I’ve got some lodging for you tonight; got a hot meal.” And that was the beginning of provision after provision after provision… 

And when all was said and done, we had a new pickup truck and a fifth wheel, and we had just so many miraculous answers to prayer. And all of them were, to me, a clear indication that God was taking care of us. 

And the book of Job, of course, a book we all know about suffering, and I certainly wouldn’t put our trial on that level, but the Bible does say, “He knoweth the way that I take.” God knows what’s going on. 

Also Psalm 138, the Bible says, “He maketh my way perfect.” And all I can say over these years is: God does. He protects. He guides. And in that situation, we miraculously saw God protect us, and we miraculously saw him provide after everything that happened. 

So many answers to prayer that I can’t even go into them all, but just anything from just money being raised to buy a pickup truck so we could get a fifth wheel instead of a tow-behind, to just getting the right situation to get the van fixed because the trailer had jackknifed enough, it kind of knocked out some of the side corner of the new vanーtow vehicle that we had. 

And just provision along the way…people loaning us things, people helping us, prophet’s chambers, people getting a hotel since we didn’t have a trailer. And we just saw God make our way perfect. We saw Him know the way that we took, and He was with us the whole way. 

And I remember several weeks after that we were talking about the wreck, and one of my girls says, “Daddy, do we have to talk about the wreck again?” And I remember telling her, “Honey, the rest of our lives, this wreck will be a part of our journey. It’s part of what God did in our family, how He protected us, and how he’s provided for us.” 

And it certainly is. So it’s my “Journey on the Road,” I guess I could put it. And, of course, the biggest road trial I’ve ever had. Occurred on that October 8th, 2005, at mile marker 192 on interstate 80. 

And of course as I go down 80ーI’ve gone by that mile marker many times, looked at that flat spot there, and knew once again that God’s protecting hand is with us, and just reminded by His goodness to us. 

And friends, I wanna tell you: Whatever God calls you to do, He’ll enable you to do. He’ll protect you. He’ll provide along the way. It doesn’t mean there won’t be trials and difficulties, but God will be there. 

So what are you going through? Remember the Lord knows the way that you take, and He will make your way perfect as you trust Him, as you look to Him. Even when circumstances don’t seem to be optimum, when you’re asking, “Why did that have to happen?” You can realize God is in control. He knows the way you take. His way is perfect. 

That really is a part of living a life that is totally surrendered and totally dependent on His grace.