I have an app on my iPhone that allows me to see where the nearest Pilot Station is. For those that don’t know, Pilot is the greatest truck stop in the world (or at least the South). They are usually large, clean, well-stocked, and busy with both truckers and non-commercial drivers. The price of their gas is usually cheaper too. Their greatest asset of course has to be that no matter what time of year, you can almost always find Hostess Orange Cupcakes in them. Some of them are practically right out of the oven. If you’ve never had one, try one, they blow away the chocolate ones (plus it’s easier to spell). There are 2 main routes to get from my where I live to where I live in my split-personality life. One is through Tuscaloosa, Meridian and Hattiesburg. The other goes through Montgomery and Mobile. Both have 2 Pilot and numerous Flying J stops on them. The Flying J is an affiliated truck stop that my app also identifies, but to me it’s like Levi’s and Wranglers—same thing only different. On the way down Monday I used my app to see that by milking my mileage and waiting until Meridian I could save 2 cents per gallon over stopping at the Pilot just outside Tuscaloosa. Yes, it’s that important. The fuel light came on 2 miles from the exit but I saved 24 cents on gas.
While crossing the Pascagoula River I decided I could check on the difference between the Theodore and Satsuma Pilots (about 30 miles apart). However, my iPhone had only the Edge network and not the 3G network over the marsh. Those with AT&T Service expect what I’m talking about. My boss’s boss directed me about a month ago to get an aircard so that when I go to the training classes (such as the one in Huntsville) I would still be able to work remotely, as I was planning. Serendipity truly takes me everywhere. To compensate for my lack of signal, I reached in the laptop bag and pulled out my Verizon WiFi Hotspot and cranked it up. Almost immediately I determined that stopping in Theodore saved me 1 cent per gallon on the gas, so I stopped at that station and filled up again. Yes, I did all this at 75 mph.
Laughing about this, I began to pray by thanking God that while I am often out of cell phone coverage I am never out of prayer coverage. I have prayed this prayer before as I’m out of cell coverage a lot, even with both an AT&T iPhone and a Verizon Blackberry. This in turn got me thinking that no matter what I do, I am also never outside of His touch, His guidance or His grace. I always fall under the hand of God and I am ever so thankful that I do not.
Being Human, and having the sin nature of Adam often gets me outside the spot He has for me. Using that line to explain human weakness, is a rhetorical technique of using an anathema that makes us feel better because we blame Adam instead of ourselves. But no matter how we explain it, we cannot get outside of His protective hand.
How often do you get a chance to describe your relation with your cell phone providers to your relation with God? For the record, owning 2 Smartphones makes one feel dumb.
The Rest of the Story Part 1 Part 3 Part 4
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