Elnora Sandy was well aware that she was just a walking contradiction. But recently, she'd had an awakening of sorts: a wake up call, an enlightenment, a come to Jesus moment, if you will. It changed her life forever. She'd often thought back to it. She could see the day in her memory. So, as she drove home from abruptly walking out on her school, students, and career, knowing she would never return, El's mind drifted back to that day.
The memory was crystal clear. It was a brutally hot summer day in July. Elnora was driving up through the middle of Florida, through the hills and lakes, and through a terrible thunderstorm. She was driving alone as she headed up the state to pick up her daughter. The drive through the heat was eerie. The sky took on the grey, deep, low lying dreadful color of a Florida afternoon sky before a storm. The kind of sky that keeps Florida folk always with one eye on the horizon, hunting for tornadoes. Elnora Sandy knew those back roads well and was watching closely, maneuvering roads, ready to dodge a twister, if necessary. As she crossed a wide open field, she saw lines of heavy rain in the distance. Making quick decisions at each turn of the storm, she jumped back road to back road across the state of Florida, around lakes and over hills, dodging lightning and sleets of rain. She made it to Orlando safe.
She drove into the town of towering buildings and tourist attractions and found her way to her oldest daughter's apartment. Her two daughters had spent a week together enjoying the theme parks. Elnora played the mom who was there to end the fun. It was time for the youngin to head back home. They had a quick visit together and some dinner before El headed back south with her youngest daughter. Roundtrip it is a 7 hour drive. She was midway through.
On the way home, she decided to stay on the Interstate for a bit. The sky had cleared up just in time for a beautiful sunset and the interstate would drive her dead west into a beautiful sky over the Gulf of Mexico. As they creeped their way towards Tampa, on the interstate, crawling through heavy Disney crowd traffic, Elnora and her daughter witnessed a most amazing sunset. In the stop and go traffic, she snapped many pictures while her child videotaped the whole thing. The sun dripped down the sky into the beautiful orange and blue horizon, like the drop of molasses syrup on a hot pancake. They watched the last of it drip away out of sight and marveled at it's beauty. The shade of the sunset cooled the car and they both settled into a long ride. Elnora driving and her child back to eyes off the sky and on to her cell phone. They headed west, making their way into the remaining three hour drive.
They were about half way to Tampa, maybe forty five minutes after the glorious sunset, when El's daughter looked up from her Instagram trance and said, "Mom, look. Is that the sun again?"
They were still heading dead west and could still see the orange and blue horizon that had swallowed the sun right in front of their eyes. But, both turned and looked left out of El's driver side window. Left was South and sure as day, up in the sky, they saw a sun. In a clear blue sky, stripped with clouds still soaking up the orange of the previous sunset, there appeared to be another sun, headed towards the western horizon.
That was the moment Elnora Sandy awoke. There comes a moment in life when the unexplainable, unthinkable, unimaginable becomes real. Sometimes it is a wonderful experience, like the birth of a child. Sometimes it is horrible, like when a tragedy changes everything. Sometimes it is extraordinary ... out of this world. Whichever and however, matters not, it is most definitely, a come to Jesus moment.
Elnora came to Jesus that day. The thunderstorm earlier didn't scare her to Him but the amazement of that second glorious sunset did. She prayed the Lord's prayer the entire ride home.
Now, here she was again, driving away from her school, knowing she would never return. Once again, she was praying His prayer. She didn't know what the Lord had in store for her, and she didn't understand why she had just walked out on her students, job, and life, she only knew that once again, she was gripping a steering wheel and praying ... and putting it all in His hands.
Elnora Sandy headed home from her last day of teaching, after nearly three decades, ready to start the next chapter of her life - eyes finally wide open. Awakened.
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