Whitney Williams - Brokenness leads us home

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, November 11th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Let us take a moment and talk about keeping this program funded. This is a quick reminder to you if you listen to this program and appreciate that we try to deliver the news in a way that doesn’t stress you out! November is “new giver month.” We’d ask that you please consider sending in some financial support this month if you’ve not done so before.

BROWN: A generous family stepped up with a dollar for dollar match. For every dollar you give, it’s doubled, up to $40,000! So making your gift go twice as far.

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Just go to wng.org/donate and make your first-ever gift today. wng.org/donate. Again, wng.org/donate. And thank you.

BROWN: Alright. Here’s commentator Whitney Williams on finding the bright side of things.

AUDIO: [Sound of crickets chirping]

WHITNEY WILLIAMS, COMMENTATOR: The sun dipped below the horizon, signaling the end of another long, but enjoyable day at our deer lease. My husband finally admitted that even if a wild hog were to stop by, he could no longer see through the scope of his hunting rifle. And I had my mind set on three things: burger, bath, bed. My husband turned on his headlamp and our family of five exited the deer blind and began making our way back to our four-wheeler through tall, thick grass.

AUDIO: [Sound of walking]

I started calculating as I walked, holding one of my son’s hands. OK, it’ll take about 20 minutes to get back to our truck. Then we have an hour-long drive back to civilization. We’ll grab a quick bite to eat, take quick showers—maybe I can be in bed by 9:30!

As we approached the truck, my husband patted his pockets in search of the keys. No keys. We got off the four wheeler and walked toward the truck with dread. Please don’t be locked. Please don’t be locked. It was locked. My husband shined his headlight inside: “Found them!” he said, frustration giving his voice an edge. The keys lay in one of our son’s car seats. For a few moments, we tried to figure out whom to blame, but that got us nowhere.

My husband found some wire cutters and cut a long, straying piece of barbed wire from a nearby fence, unwinding and straightening it out as best he could. He shimmied and jimmied to no avail. We called the local game warden—I don’t really know why, honestly—and he sent the local sheriff, who apparently had a special tool for such a time as this. We waited in the darkness with our boys, holding out hope. We figured busting a window would be cheaper and faster than calling a locksmith. But that seemed so dramatic. Surely there was another way. The sheriff finally arrived, bumping through the field toward my husband’s headlight. He agreed we had quite the situation on our hands, greeted our boys, and went to work, not responsible for any scratches or damage to our truck, of course.

AUDIO: [Sound of talking, eventual breaking]

After even more ineffective shimmying and jimmying, the sheriff adjusted his cowboy hat and lit up a cigarette: “Weellllllppp, which window y’all want me to break?” Apparently, he had ANOTHER tool for such a time as THAT.

We didn’t want a broken window. In fact, we tried our best to avoid it. But it turns out brokenness was a blessing in disguise. It was messy, of course, even sharp at times. But brokenness ended up being our saving grace, the very thing we needed to get back to where we were supposed to be. God used brokenness to bring us out of the darkness. He used brokenness to get us home.

I’m Whitney Williams.

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