It is a choice that needs to be made every time I take Sulojana to work.

Do we turn into the alley that connects King Street and Church Street? Or do we drive a block further and take Queen Street?

Personally, I prefer the alley, as it is a tad shorter, takes less time and saves us the trouble of going through two sets of lights.

There is only one potential problem with taking the alley.

When two vehicles are coming towards each other, there is not always enough room for both to get through…especially when one vehicle is a truck.

Delivery trucks do like to take the alley so they can get to the loading/unloading areas at the rear of buildings.

So, any vehicle taking the alley is also taking the chance of encountering one of these oversized vehicles.

Since one defers to size in such cases, it is usually the passenger vehicle (namely moi) that has to back up, and often back out back on to King Street and then take Queen Street…by which time, we have wasted a couple of precious minutes.

Get the picture?

Did I tell you that I love to take this risk just about every time, unless one of those trucks is already in the alley within my line of vision?

So, here is the scenario. Two weeks ago, I have already committed to taking the alley. We are a third of the way into the alley when a truck turns into the alley from Church Street and is coming towards me.

Suffice it to say I am not too thrilled about re-tracing my steps a third of the way down the alley back to King Street and then on to Queen, hit the lights, yadi yada…

For some inexplicable reason, I decide not to back up, but simply keep moving forward.

That’s when I noticed the truck making a left turn into the alley that connects our alley with the other parallel alley running north to south.

Now the way was clear for us to keep going, make the right turn on Church Street and drop Sulojana off at her office, right on time!

The Lord used this experience to teach me how we need to keep moving forward in the face of obstacles.

Quite often we are tempted to see obstacles as being immovable, impenetrable, impassable or impossible.

Yet, isn’t it true that obstacles can move too?

A church is told that they cannot add to their existing building because of a bylaw.  Guess what, a bylaw can be changed…it is movable!

You apply for a line of credit that is absolutely necessary to get your next project off the ground, but you cannot convince the loans manager at your bank. Surprise! The manager is “moved” to another branch and her replacement honours your request!

The secretary is firm about it. You will be waiting at least 6 months for your surgery. You are believing for an earlier date. And then you get the phone call. An appointment got “moved!” Can you come in next week instead?

Yes, obstacles have wheels!

God drives obstacles out of the way when we

a.    Speak to them in faith as Jesus commanded us to do. “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23)

b.    Keep on moving forward as the apostle Paul exhorts us to do. “One thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal…” (Philippians 3:13-14)

Have you experienced this in your life? Please share your stories with the rest of your DWOD family, will you?