The Tumbleweed

The wind blew so strong it felt like we were driving into a brick wall the whole day. After driving for a couple of hours your arms felt like they had just finished a long arm wrestling match with the wind. The only good direction we could have been traveling that day was northwest. We were traveling southeast.

It was early November and we were headed to Kansas for another two and a half weeks of prefield ministry.

Something we saw that day turned into an object lesson that made us both pause for a moment. As we traveled across the northwest corner of Kansas we enjoyed watching the many tumbleweeds bump, crawl and roll across the fields and highways in their haste to get out of the way of the wind that was pushing them so hard. In some of the fields it looked like we could have been watching some low circuit NASCAR event - minus the bumper stickers. Occasionally we would be startled by a tumbleweed that had camped out in the middle of the road. We weren’t really sure if we should swerve to miss it or just run it over.

While those of us out west know these tumbleweeds to be more of a nuisance than an oddity, we thought about how these were driven so forcefully by the wind, willing to go or stay, travel north or south, hang out with some buddies, or simply travel alone, however the wind happened to blow. While we must rest in the security of God’s word, not tossed about by the fickle nature of human emotion or worldly wisdom, we do need to be willing to go the farthest distance, to find the neediest person, or travel the loneliest road; while allowing our lives to be motivated and driven by the inexhaustible grace of God.