Eager to get on the way, we loaded the car and began our journey. The crisp Sunday morning couldn’t have been any more perfect. We were scheduled to minister in a church on the south side of Chicago that morning. So we got an early start for the trip from Milwaukee, to insure plenty of time to get there.

We had already gone a good distance when all of a sudden there was a loud noise followed by a lot of shaking. We pulled over to the side of the road only to find the tire was shredded to pieces. Surprisingly, it only took a few minutes to grab the spare and get back in the car heading for Chicago. This little setback seemed only to confirm to us that God had great plans in store for the meeting ahead.

Halfway to our destination, another loud noise came from the tire that I had just changed twenty miles earlier. The car began to shake in the same manner it did earlier. Once again, I pulled off the road and took a look at the tire, finding that it was also flat and ripped to shreds. Knowing that we were all out of spare tires, I began to get a little worked up and agitated. Yet, we began to feel more than ever that it was God’s will for us to be at that meeting. Even though it now looked as if something was hindering us. We began to be stirred up in our faith and began asking the Lord to move in the meeting. Before I could finish the prayer, a car pulled in behind us to help. To my amazement, we were back in the car headed to our destination once again and still had time to get there, but it would definitely be close. We finally reached the city limits, but it was still a long way to the south side. So, taking the fastest route possible, we headed through the downtown expressway. When we were least expecting, that same familiar shaking and noise began to echo through every part of my body. I immediately pulled off the road in disgust only to find that in less than three hours we had had our third blowout! The feeling of totally defeat seemed to overwhelm us.

Even with all the good intentions, I still found myself sitting along the side of the road in downtown Chicago on a Sunday morning, with no spare. I was devastated and felt as if I had the spiritual wind knocked right out of me.

Many times, even with the greatest of intentions, we can get hindered from accomplishing God’s will for our lives. When I later searched, I was dumbfounded to find part of the frame was rubbing on the tire and it easily moved away from the tire when I gave it a shove. If I would have searched a little bit harder I would have been able to prevent being hindered.

At Times It would seem that things can come up out of nowhere and stop us. Hebrew 12:1, (niv) says; “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance” In other words, we need to get rid of everything that will stop us from obtaining the will of God for our lives. Take a moment and ask God to search you for any hidden thing that would hinder you from fulfilling His purpose.