Driving Lessons

Joseph Herrin (06-13-2013)

Yahweh is a great communicator. His Son is called “The Word made flesh” (John 1:14). I am constantly amazed at the variety of ways in which Yahweh chooses to communicate to His people. For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, the words of the Father are frequently encountered through ways that most people, even Christians, seldom perceive.

One of the very interesting ways in which Yahweh has often spoken to me is through the vehicles He has provided for me. The van in the photo above came to me through a very unusual manner in 2005. I have shared about this elsewhere, and will cite a portion of a writing posted in 2008.
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One day when I was employed at the Macon Rescue Mission I had gone to the  post office and found that a brother in Christ from Canada had sent me a money order for $800. As I rode my bike back up to the mission, I noticed a class B motorhome/van parked in the lot. I assumed that it had been donated to the mission to be sold. The Spirit spoke to me as I looked at the van and told me “The $800 you just received will be used to purchase that van.”

The mission was waiting to receive a dealer’s license to sell automobiles, and they were accumulating a number of them to be sold at auction. It was three months later that the auction was held. I gathered, along with about a hundred other people, to bid on the assortment of 25 vehicles up for sale that day. The van was well down the list, so I waited my turn patiently.

The auctioneer always started out at a low price and increased each bid by $50. Finally he got around to auctioning the van. Several people began bidding on it, but most dropped out quickly. It came down to just myself and one other man who were bidding on the van. His last offer was $750. I then bid $800 and no other bids were forthcoming. I was able to purchase the van for the exact amount God had sent me.

I wondered for a time why God had me buy this van, for the next several years I spent working for the mission and most of my driving was in town, and usually by myself. The van was larger than my immediate need and consumed more gas than a smaller vehicle would have. If I had chosen a vehicle for myself, I would most likely have looked at something more economical...

(Later on I would learn the reason Yahweh gave me this van. He sent me across the nation for several consecutive years to speak at small gatherings of His saints. I also lived in the van for an entire summer, parking it on the property of the Macon Rescue Mission in downtown Macon, Georgia.)

The van tells quite a story. Every detail of it seems to be pregnant with meaning, and I have observed in it many things relating to the ministry appointed to me.

The van is a 1986 model. When I purchased it in 2005 it was 19 years old, and it had around 50,000 miles on it. It was driven very little, being owned by an older couple who had purchased it new...

The number 22 is very prevalent throughout this vehicle. It is a conversion van built on a Dodge chassis with a Dodge engine. The conversion is by Xplorer Motor Homes and the model of this Xplorer is 222...

The number 22, as I have noted, is also very symbolic as it stands for the removal of the sinful flesh. The van contains a small refrigerator that is 2.2 cubic feet in capacity. It is a model 2200...

In an earlier writing Explorers and Pioneers to Serve as Guides I noted that the van is an Xplorer and it has a Pioneer sound system in it. (The Father provided new tires for the van before I set out on the road. The tires were Pathfinders.) The significance of this is that the Lord has sent a group of forerunning saints ahead of the rest of the body to experience a cutting of their flesh as they have journeyed through wilderness places, in order that they might serve as guides to a larger remnant of the body who are to follow them in fast approaching days.

The tires on the van are specified as 235 tires. This is encouraging as the numbers 23 and 5 in combination have been repeatedly used to signify God’s grace for material provision in my life. The Lord has certainly proved this in relation to the van from the very moment it showed up at the mission just as a brother had sent the $800 that would be used to purchase it. Yahweh has continued to manifest magnificent grace in His provision as I have followed Him to the places He has led.
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A couple years ago the Father upgraded my vehicle. He gave me a 1972 school bus that I converted to a motorhome. The manufacturer’s plate is just inside the door. It says, “Body by Carpenter.” It is very apparent that the Father has chosen to communicate things to me through the vehicles He has provided. The bus has a history. It started off as a school bus, was then sold to a church. The church in turn sold it to a private party who gutted it, threw a couple of sleeper sofas inside, and used it to go to the races. He built the deck on the rear roof of the bus so he and some friends could sit on top of the bus and watch the cars race around while the bus was parked in the center of the track.

The bus still had the words “Church Bus” on it, and a symbol from the Methodist Church when I bought it. It also had numerous numbers painted on it to correspond with the favorite race car drivers of the Nascar fan. This was confusion, but it was in keeping with the condition of the body of Christ. Symbolically, the bus represented the condition of the church that had begun as a place of instruction in the ways of God, but had descended into a platform for entertainment. Yahweh delivered it to me and charged me with the task of transforming it into a fit habitation.

Vehicles represent the ministries entrusted to us, and to some extent they also show forth things about our lives. I have shared these truths with my daughter Kristin and she has been alert to what the Father is speaking to her through the vehicles He has provided for her.

Kristin in My Bus Last Year when Champ was a Puppy

When I was employed at the Rescue Mission, Kristin needed a car. I was able to help her purchase a used Kia Sephia. Afterwards we pondered this vehicle that Yahweh had provided for her. The word “sophia” means “wisdom” in Latin. We understood Yahweh to be saying that He had appointed my daughter to walk in wisdom, and to instruct others in this wisdom. The Scriptures state that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.” I observed during the time my daughter had this vehicle that she was led to be a light and a testimony to others, encouraging them to embrace God’s will for their lives, and to walk in the fear of Him.

After a few years, the Sephia was in need of replacing. Kristin asked me if she should look for another Sephia. I told her I did not think so. We had not looked for a Sephia originally, nor did we choose a car because of what message it might convey. The Sephia was simply the best car we had found in the price range we had to work with. Yahweh ordered our steps. I told my daughter to be led of the Spirit, and she would know what vehicle God had chosen for her.

Kristin was very impressed with the quality and endurance of Honda’s cars. She was desirous of looking for a vehicle manufactured by them. She used the Internet, mainly Craigslist and Ebay Motors, to search for a vehicle. She would send me links, and ask me what I thought. Nothing really stood out to either of us.

After about a week of searching Kristin e-mailed me a link and said “Dad, take a look at this!” Kristin had been asking Yahweh to affirm His will regarding the car He had chosen for her. I looked at the ad. It was for a Honda Civic. It was a decent car, but nothing leapt out at me. Kristin said, “Dad, look at the identity of the person selling the car on Ebay.” I looked again and noted that the seller was K_Wisdom. Both my daughter and I had a witness that this was the vehicle Yahweh had chosen for her. Kristin caught a flight from Atlanta to St. Louis and drove the car back home.

A couple months ago it became apparent that the Honda was on its last legs. Kristin drove it about 4 years. It had about 270,000 miles on it, and much of that had been up and down the washboard dirt roads that my daughter lives on. The car was literally shaking apart. It had given her good service during the years she kept it.

Kristin began looking for another vehicle, but the search was not going well. Her car was in need of repairs, and a young man she worked with wanted to purchase it from her. He said he would do the repair work himself, and he was eager for Kristin to sell it to him.

One day Kristin and I drove to a nearby town to look at a car. We were meeting someone at a McDonald’s. While there the rack and pinion steering in her Honda became unsafe to drive. We had to leave the car at McDonald’s. The young man who wanted to purchase it, towed it home and replaced the steering assembly. He graciously offered for Kristin to continue driving it until she found another vehicle. This put added pressure on her as she felt she needed to make a purchase soon.

Kristin called me one day about a month ago and told me of another Honda for sale in a nearby town. I had some reservations about the vehicle, but the whole process had dragged on and Kristin was feeling the pressure to get another car. She decided to purchase this car. It was a Honda Civic si Type R. This was a performance edition of the Civic. It looked sporty. It was black with a sunroof and custom rims. A previous owner had replaced the stock 15 inch rims with 17 inch rims and lower profile tires. This made for a rougher ride, especially on dirt roads. Because it was a Type R, it also had a stiffer suspension. Honda had also removed much of the sound dampening from the body to lower the weight and increase the performance. It was a loud car inside.

It didn’t take too long for Kristin to figure out that the car was not a good match for her. Aside from the fact that the car was noisy, and rode rough, there was something else that troubled Kristin and led her to sell it. Kristin lives in a community where there are a large number of Mennonites. The church she attends was formerly a Mennonite Church, and they have fellowship and interaction with several other Mennonite Churches in the area.

The Mennonites are similar to the Amish, though not quite so strict where it comes to technology, and they differ in some other ways. The most conservative of the Mennonite churches in the community has rules that their members must abide by when selecting a vehicle. These rules pertain to the appearance of a vehicle. Most of the members drive black vehicles with no external adornment such as chrome pieces, or decorative striping. Despite the intent of these rules to promote modesty and humility, Kristin had observed that the youth of this church were far more focused on the appearance of their vehicles than any of the other churches. They stayed within the guidelines, but they were purchasing new, expensive vehicles, and they were very obviously intent on getting the coolest looking car they possibly could.

Some of the youth from this church had commented to Kristin on her new (used) Honda Civic si Type R. They remarked about how awesome it looked with its custom rims, sunroof, and shiny black paint job. Some mentioned that they would really like to have a car like that. Rather than pleasing Kristin, these words caused her concern. She did not want to give to others the impression that she was vain, or had chosen a car to impress others. Kristin became concerned that these youth would derive the wrong testimony from her life because she was driving a car they envied. This convinced her that she needed to get rid of it.

Kristin listed the car on Craigslist, and she eventually sold it to a young man from a small town of Omega in South Georgia. The young man’s name was Daniel. This struck me as unusual. Daniel is the name of a prophet from the Old Testament who was given visions of the last days.

Daniel 12:9-10
And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.”

Additionally, the word Omega is defined as follows:

Omega: the last of any series; the end.

I began pondering these things. Having sold her car, Kristin was right back where she had been a month earlier. She was without a vehicle, and she was having to borrow cars from friends to be able to drive to work, to church, and to continue her car search. The search drug on for a couple more weeks, and was beginning to wear on Kristin as she felt she was imposing on people by asking to be able to drive their vehicles. Finally, after weeks of prayer and searching, Kristin found the car the Father had for her. We went to look at it last night and she purchased it.

The car is a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta. It is in good shape both cosmetically, and mechanically. I was impressed with the way it handled. It sounds like a well engineered German sewing machine going down the road. It is not as flashy as the previous car. It is green, which I find an attractive color, while it is lacking the sunroof and custom wheels. It is attractive, but not flashy.

After having ridden with my daughter to look at numerous cars in recent weeks, always in outlying towns, I had grown accustomed to being disappointed time and again. There is a sense that something is not right, that a vehicle is not God’s provision, when you look at it. I never had the sense in looking at any other vehicle that God was saying “this is it.” Neither did my daughter.

Kristin arranged to meet the owner of the Jetta. When she told me his name my spiritual senses perked up. The young man selling the car in named Elias. This is a very uncommon name, especially for a young person, but it is a Biblical name. The KJV Bible uses the name Elias in the New Testament to refer to Elijah. When Kristin told me the seller’s name I broke into a grin and asked her what it was that she had going on with prophets? She sold her car to a Daniel, and now she was considering purchasing one from Elias.

When we saw the car, both of us sensed a peace about it. This was quite different from our earlier experiences viewing cars. When Kristin brought it home last night I reminded her that vehicles signify ministries. I told her the last time I read about someone named Elias passing their ministry onto another, it turned out pretty well for that person. Elisha, of course, took up the mantle of Elijah as he ascended to heaven in a whirlwind.

I did not know what the name Jetta meant. I assumed it was simply some made up name that really did not mean anything. However, as I looked into it, I found that Volkswagen has adopted a naming theme for many of their vehicles. The cars are named after air currents. I suppose that this is because currents carry things places, and so do their cars. I came across the following information online.

Jetta: Jet stream
Scirocco: Hot North African desert wind that blows into Italy
Golf: Gulf stream winds
Passat: Trade winds
Vento: Blowing/windy (E/I)
Santana: Hot desert blast across the Sea of Cortez.
Corrado: From Spanish Correr which means to run. The original name for the car was Taifun (Typhoon) which means hurricane except it was already a registered trademark for a GM truck.

Elias went up to heaven in a whirlwind, and tornadoes have been much in the news of late. America has experienced a rash of very violent storms where the damage has come from strong winds. I am not sure what all of this signifies for my daughter, but there is definitely a message here. We are told that Elias must return before the coming of the Lord.

Matthew 17:10-11
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.
KJV

That her previous vehicle was sold to Daniel from Omega seems to further point to a time of the end.

Although I do not believe that I have fully understood the message Yahweh is seeking to convey through this experience of my daughter, I want to share it to encourage others to be alert to the ways that Yahweh speaks. I plan to continue to seek the Father, and should He give fuller understanding I will share it with you.

May you be blessed with peace and understanding in these days.


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Mailing Address:
Joseph Herrin
P.O. Box 804
Montezuma, GA 31063