Driving on "E" (Part II)

My cell phone is dead, my Expedition is stranded and it's almost dark. At this point, I am not thinking I ran out of gas. I really think something is wrong with the engine because I KNOW it was NOT below "E". Over and over again, I try to get my phone to magically work. When it doesn't, I begin to sob. My mind begins to take me places I did not want to go. One minute I am excited about getting home and enjoying Christmas, the next minute I am fearing I will be kidnapped and killed or hit by a car. My only choice, walk. It was cold and I did not have a coat. My black stilettos would not have allowed me to run, walking was the only option so based on my attire, not a great option but the only one I knew of. I kept crying out to God. "What do I do? God, what am I going to do?" At this point I was scared and wondering if Jeremy would get scared and come find me. I try to start the engine a few more times. Nothing.

There was nothing left to do besides walk or wait for a total stranger to kidnap me. Do I walk home? Do I walk back to the toll booth? I stop and ask God to bring someone to help me. "Lord, please let someone from church see me or God please let a family see me. Send someone that I KNOW I can trust." About thirty seconds later, a white van pulls off the side of the road no more than twenty yards ahead of me. Not a mini van, a scary van. Imagine in your mind what a scary van would look like, that's the one I saw. Now I am trying to figure out how I can get someone to stop and protect me from the person in the white van. My mind, my body, both frozen in fear.

Whoever was in the van, stays in the van so I am not so scared after a minute or so. But then my mind begins to wonder if the person in the van is a sniper, waiting for me to be still so they can shoot me. So I walk more and try to hide behind my SUV. I'm crying, I am sobbing. Mascara is all over my face and I don't care. If someone sees me crying, maybe an older couple or a family traveling to Austin for the Holidays will feel sorry for me and stop.

Stranded on the side of the road, no way to call home, no way to get home. For five minutes I pace back and forth wondering what to do and just when I get ready to begin walking home, my prayer is answered.