Someone, take the Wheel!

I am driving down a mountain highway. At first I am a little tense, due to a minor verbal altercation on the phone, but as I drive and put time and distance between me and the incident I relax and am enjoying the scenery, lost in my thoughts. I am enjoying the drive, but I am driving with a purpose. It is not clear where I am headed, but I do know there is somewhere I need to be. Still there is no rush, no real urgency.

Then I look up and see a semi truck bearing down on me. I speed up a little, but he stays right behind me. I can see the driver glowering at me in the mirror and I realize he is the person I had the altercation with earlier. I increase my speed a bit more, but he pulls out beside me as though he plans to try and force me off the road. I refuse to meet his gaze and keep my eyes fixed on the road ahead. I am driving faster and faster, hand gripping the wheel, willing myself to stay calm.
Then suddenly I see another rig barreling up the highway in the opposite direction. I am just ahead of my pursuer, and I steel myself for the sound of the crash that must be inevitable, but it never comes. I glance again into the rear view mirror. Neither truck is to be seen. My grip relaxes a bit, I feel the tension leave my body. But my car continues to accelerate. I am going faster and faster, the landscape is becoming a blur. I am not even sure, although my my hands are still on the wheel, that I am still in control of the car. Despite this rapidly increasing pace I am not afraid-terrified and exhilarated, but oddly safe feeling.

It is at this moment, my heart racing in some weird combination of excitement & terror (I don't like roller coasters, but maybe that's what the thrill is like) I wake up. For those of you who have been following, this crazy ride down the mountain was part three of the dream that opened with me working in my wedding finery. (I'm no longer dressed for a celebration, by the way, but in jeans & a t-shirt, much more my style)

I've spent the past couple of days trying to sort out the meaning of my wild ride. Near as I can figure, that's just how life gets sometimes. We go about the business of living, and our lives seem calm and well ordered, and then look up and discover our nemesis breathing down our necks. We can not escape him, try as we might, but have to trust an unseen force, Holy Spirit, to take control and take the wheel. When we do, the ride may get even wilder, but we can rest & know we are utterly safe.