Sedona to desolate

It's amazing what is spoken to the heart on a long, desolate stretch of desert... So far this journey has tested my trust in God time and time again, and it's amazing to me how ingrained I am in trusting fear more than God. Fear paralyzes, then causes us to rationalize, then pride causes us to justify our rationalizations. I know that was a loaded senence, but break it down... It's the truth! I dealt with this head on today... On a very lonely stretch of desolate highway. At this point I'm already struggling with the fear of breaking down in the middle of nowhere, and while passing a 1960's gas station, I caught a hitchhiker out of the corner of my eye. I kept driving. "I want you to give that person a ride". The voice in my heart was very clear. I can not fully sum up the internal battle that went on in the 5 minutes following, but i was paralyzed, then rationalized, and when i realized i was rationalizing, pride was right there to justify. Inturrupting the noise in my head were words I heard very clear: "You cannot trust me if you keep letting fear win". I turned around. I didn't see him at first and my heart leaped with joy thinking that someone else had picked him up. I pulled into the station and there he was sitting down behind some tall grass. He was burly and well worn... Shirtless with a bandana on his head, and not a very friendly looking fellow. I kept thinking about how easy it woud be to hide a body out here... But I knew God had my back, so I pulled up and started conversation. Matt was a very friendly man, who was just trying to make it out to the emerald triangle in California. The emerald triangle is the northernmost 3 counties in CA that happen to produce the most marijuana in the nation... I knew this from my camping neighbors in Crecent City. Anyway, we chatted a bit, and he told me that a lady stopped earlier and gave him two apples, which he had no use for due to the lack of front teeth. I traded him ten bucks for the apples, gave him some cigarettes and wished him well on his journey.
Facing into my fear through trusting God was very humbling... Because it forced me to look at how much I let fear win... And how much better it is when we just trust.