God and Airstreams
You don’t see a lot of Airstreams on the roads, do you?
I suppose they’re trendy enough, thanks to HGTV and Miranda Lambert, but Airstreams aren’t a Kia. They aren’t rolling down the interstate in mass, zigzagging in and out of traffic like it’s a real-life game of Mario Kart. That’s why I chose Airstreams as a sign while praying to God for confirmation about something last weekend.
If this is from you, send me three Airstreams this week.
I believe you can do that – you can ask God to confirm His words and visions over your life. There has to be an element of faith there, but you can ask for confirmation. That’s what I did. I told God I believed this thing was from Him and would still believe it without the Airstreams, but the Airstreams would be that little extra *thing* I needed to firm up my faith on the matter.
My ask went out on a Sunday. The day passed with no Airstreams. Monday. Tuesday. No Airstreams. I had more or less forgotten about the request by Wednesday. I decided to work from home that morning as I had co-workers coming into town from our headquarters as well as one of our vendor partners. We had post-work plans to go to Topgolf and then head to dinner and I didn’t want the dogs to be alone or at daycare for 12+ hours.
I also played that fun game where you decide to get gas in the morning, only to forget you need said gas when you hop in the car and so I found myself pulling into a questionable gas station with the gas light on in the midst of a time crunch as I had twenty minutes to somehow get gas and make it to the office – which was twenty minutes away – before my one o’clock call.
Even though this gas station is no more than two miles down the street from my apartment and I pass it multiple times most days, it’s not somewhere I normally stop for gas. It’s a run down station and a sort of meeting place for the homeless and the transient populations as there is a bus stop directly in front of it. It’s a frequent flier on Next Door and the Ring app for reports that involve a police presence. I didn’t have a lot of options though and so up to the tank I pulled.
Once my tank was full, I thought it best to try to go around the gas station and return to the main road further up to make it easier to cross three lanes of traffic to take the exit to the interstate (confused by that sentence? Welcome to driving in Nashville). Except I found there was no way around the station. The back lot was full of cars for the auto shop next door. Among those cars?
An Airstream.
I stared for a few beats and then laughed. Of course, in the midst of my rushed stop for gas at a less than reputable location, God would place an Airstream in my path. Literally dead end said path at said Airstream. The Bible is full of moments like that though – moments where God acted in unlikely places – so was it really a surprise that my first Airstream came in such a location? I said a quiet thank you and turned my car around. Somehow, I made it to work on time.
We went to Topgolf and had a blast. I’m awful at golf, but left inspired to learn. We headed over to Pinewood Social for dinner where I had one of the best burgers I’ve had in a while. I merged onto the interstate headed home well after nine o’clock that night in a good mood, singing along to the radio, plotting out how early I needed to leave the next morning in order to pick up breakfast before everyone got to the office.
There, in the middle lane of the interstate?
An Airstream.
I laughed.
Two out of three in one day.
I posted my Airstream story on my Instagram stories. I’ve been speaking a lot more openly about my faith there and it seems to resonate. Hearing others’ share their faith has inspired me. If I can do that for someone else? I will absolutely share.
During my all-day meeting on Thursday, the group text I’m in with my brother, sister, and cousin Peyton lit up with a text from Peyton.
Can’t make this up.
He attached a photo of an Airstream he had spied while driving the interstate in Denver.
I had to work to not laugh out loud in the middle of the meeting. There it was. Three Airstreams. Confirmation from God that it was, and fact, Him.
Friday, my friend Kathryn sent me a text – she had just driven past an overturned Airstream on the highway. She lives in a small town in Washington. One more Airstream for good measure, right? Except there was this nagging feeling way back in the back of my mind. I wanted to see three Airstreams. Myself. The pictures and sightings from the cousin who is like a brother to me and one of my oldest friends were great and I was content with having my three plus a bonus one, but still…
I got my day started a little later than usual on Sunday. I was emotionally (and maybe wine-ly…) hungover from Tennessee’s big win over Florida and so I slept in and had a slow morning. I drove to the Homegoods in Bellevue, spent all my dollars at Kirkland’s on fall candles and pumpkin plates. I needed to go to Target and the grocery store and the sensical thing to do was to go to the one right down the street from where I was before heading home. Instead, I heeded the quiet urge to go to my usual Target in Cool Springs, a full half hour-plus drive from where I was. Google Maps took me a different way out instead of the logical (sensing a pattern?) route along the interstate. I drove past a golf course that caught my attention – I’d been googling golf lessons and that course had popped up as a recommendation – and took in some beautiful homes and scenery. Well worth the off the beaten path adventure. And when I finally found myself back on the interstate?
It was just in time to see an Airstream – my third – pass on the other side of the road.
Three Airstreams, just for me.
I had a mini worship session right there in the driver’s seat while cruising down 65.
That evening, Kathryn texted me again. She had seen three Airstreams on her drive to Oregon. The icing on the cake, I suppose.
God heard my ask. He sent me three Airstreams – and then some – to confirm once and for all that the thing I was praying about came from Him.
I know there is at least one person reading this that is skeptical. You’re saying “it was a coincidence” or “you saw them because you were looking for them.” That’s fine. I’m not going to engage in an argument to change your mind. I’m only going to share my story and allow you to see God work. Who knows? Maybe it will make you curious to start exploring faith for yourself.
God was loud and clear in his confirmation and I’ve replaced my shaky faith in the thing I was questioning with a firm foundation of belief. If there is something you’re pondering in your life right now, ask God. Ask him for guidance, for confirmation.
He will give it.
Even in the form of Airstreams in questionable parking lots and on busy interstates.
