Chicago Adventures

For those of you who haven't read this story yet on Facebook, here's my (rather long) story about what happened to my friends and I on our way back home from OH last October! I am so thankful to God for being with us and showing us His goodness and faithfulness! I'm hoping to post some pictures of our adventures soon!

It all started with leaving the Passion4Christ Summit in Ohio on Sunday afternoon - October 27th. After an AMAZING several days there (and I mean, amazing!!), it was sadly time to pack up and leave.  We had a few problems with the van, but eventually it seemed fine so we left. As we drove our new friend Cristi to her home in Indiana, we did see the battery light come on but we still weren't sure what the problem was. Having dropped her off successfully, we continued back onto the interstate. I drove until right before Chicago. We stopped at a gas station and I switched places with Rebekah. God knew that she needed to be the one driving when the van broke down, NOT me!!  We came up to a toll booth, paid our fee, and continued on. Not 2 seconds out of the toll booth, Rebekah noticed the headlights had no light at all . . . not a good sign! We all agreed to make it through Chicago and then we’d pull off the road later into a well-lit gas station and see if we could get it fixed. These words were barely out of our mouths, however, when the van suddenly died. Right there, on a 3-lane downtown Chicago freeway! 

Praise God we were, first of all, in the right lane, and second, the shoulder on the road became wide enough right where we needed to pull off! We sat there for around a half hour with huge semis and cars roaring past us at 70 miles an hour! The van shook as they went by. We prayed and read some verses and were so thankful that God calmed our hearts and the traffic diminished somewhat in the lane closest to us. As Rebekah was calling insurance to get a tow truck and shop lined up, a department of transportation truck pulled up behind us. He offered to push us up to the next exit to safely wait for our tow truck, and we gladly agreed!! So very carefully, with lights flashing, he pushed us in our van up the next exit. 

While Rebekah continued her phone calls, I contacted my family. They told me of some friends who had their supporting church in Chicago. Through a series of phone calls I got in touch with a family who graciously offered to pick us up. The funny thing was, us country girls had no clue where in Chicago we actually were, so we assumed we were in a part of town that someone told us was safe. So we didn't worry at all (God knew we didn't need to have something else to worry about).  It was only later that we found out we weren't where we thought we were! 

After a 2 1/2 hour wait (with one tow truck coming and going when he realized we had too many people to fit in his truck . . . and the taxi we called never showing up) we FINALLY were towed by someone else to a shop 2 miles away. Since it was a short drive, the man said two of us could stay in the van while it was towed. Hey, it may not have been legal, but in our situation it was the safest thing (and, might I add, a little bit fun!). 

When we arrived at the shop, we realized this was probably not a very good part of town. There were hardly any lights, it looked like it’d been closed for years, and there were fences with barbed wire on top guarding the few dark vehicles sitting in the shadows of the shop. The driver announced that this is the place, but Rebekah refused to get out. This was no place for 4 girls to stand out alone at 10pm waiting for our ride (especially because the tow truck driver himself didn’t seem to want to get out, and wouldn’t even venture down the road a few blocks in his truck)! So after some animated discussion, he finally took us to a dealership 4 miles away. On the way there we went through a rundown area with lots of shops and bars and such. One time, we were at a stop light and there were about 10 guys standing around near a shop talking. Rachel and I were in the middle of the van sitting as far back as we could in our seats. I whispered for her to cover her face with a pillow, but she said she wasn’t going to move! Which was a good thing because two of the guys walked not more than 2 feet away past our window . . . thankfully they didn’t see us. We later heard that this was a very dangerous part of Chicago, and that a lot of the murders or terrible crimes seen in the paper probably happened in or around this area! I think God had His angels with us the whole evening.  

Finally we made it to the dealership/shop, which was lit much better. We got out and right then our rescuers arrived - the Del Boccio’s had driven around 45 minutes just to pick us up! We grabbed only the essentials out of the van and then piled into their vehicle. We had a WONDERFUL night’s sleep in their comfortable beds. God totally worked it out for us to stay with them. We had so much in common - from eating healthy, to using non-allergenic cleaning products, to homeschooling, music and so much more! We had a wonderful time relaxing at their house the next day, but found out that the dealership had ship a new alternator overnight. There weren't any in all of Chicago?! *sigh* I’m sure they were taking advantage of us. Nevertheless, we enjoyed our restful time getting to know this wonderful family!  

To back up just a little, when Ruth and I were sitting the van waiting for the tow truck, we were talking about how neat it would be if we got stuck in Chicago for a couple days and were able to tour Pacific Garden Mission. We’d both wanted to go there for a LONG time! So when we finally found out the van would be fixed around 1pm on Tuesday, Mrs. Del Boccio said she’d take us out for lunch and we could visit Moody Bible Institute and Pacific Garden Mission like we wanted to! How EXCITING! We had a wonderful morning seeing the museum at Moody, eating at the Grand Lux Café (yum!) and then getting a tour of Pacific Garden Mission. What a wonderful place! Please be sure to check out the website. They serve so many homeless people in the name of Jesus! They also record a radio program every Saturday in front of a live audience. I’m going to have to go back on a Saturday sometime.  

“Throughout its long history, PGM has always stayed true to its mission statement - Sharing the word of God and winning souls for Christ! Everything else is secondary.” www.pgm.org 

After visiting these amazing places, we went to the dealership and got the van. The rest of the trip home was uneventful . . . although none of us really enjoyed getting home at 3:30-4:30 in the morning.  But I think we will all agree that it was an amazing adventure and we are SO thankful for God’s protection and guidance! It was really a faith and trust-building experience for me. Praise the Lord!