Jehovah took us there and back again safely

I was creating a playlist of worship songs from Zimbabwe the other day. I’d been longing to listen and sing along to music in my mother tongue, Shona. I wanted to immerse myself in rhythms and beats that were unmistakably Zimbabwean. This is something I don’t get to do often enough, and so I did a broad search on a music streaming service for Zimbabwean worship music. That’s how I came across a song titled Ebenezer – Tiri Munyasha by Rev. Chivaviro which I immediately recognised. I’d heard it countless times before although I didn’t know who sung it or what it was called until that moment. It took me back to a road trip I took to Masvingo with my parents back in 2016.

Masvingo is a small city in the south-east of Zimbabwe and I was travelling to visit my family that lives there. The city is close to the village where my mum grew up called Zaka and I travelled to visit my granny on my mum’s side who still lived there as well. I absolutely love road trips and this one was no different – the sights, the long stretch of road as we put the pedal to the metal, the conversations and quality time with my parents, the music, even the comfortable silences every now and then. As road trips go, this one was rather uneventful. Still, I remember it fondly. If you want to get to know a person or a place then take a road trip. You’ll probably have rich experiences of both to remember.

One thing that does stick out about the trip was how hot it was. It was September and the temperature was punishing but luckily it was cool in the car. I also remember the levels of backseat driving that were happening. As my mum drove, my dad was telling her that she needed to slow down. He gave several reasons why she needed to go much slower than the speed limit. The one that we debated on was when he pointed out how the temperature of the day and the faster speed compromised the car tyres. According to him, it was prudent, therefore, to drive much slower. I remember my mum laughing heartily at this thinking it was rather far-fetched. We both thought he was exaggerating the effects of the heat on the tyres to make his point.

Eventually, he stopped talking about the speed but now and then he’d make a slow-down signal with his hand which seemed to drive my mum nuts. When it was my dad’s turn to drive, I was amused to see that he drove at roughly the same speed as my mum. Of course, she was convinced he was going faster than she had been. She did not miss the opportunity to do some backseat driving of her own, telling him to slow down. I found the entire thing quite entertaining. “Two peas in a pod”, I thought to myself. Another thing that sticks out is, of course, the Ebenezer song I previously mentioned. We had been listening to varied music but the Ebenezer song was repeated more than others.

At some point during the return trip, Ebenezer was placed on repeat indefinitely and we listened to it all the way home. I can’t recall who put the song on repeat but both my mum and dad seemed to be really enjoying the song. I lost count of how many times I heard it that day. Even when I tried to steer us to other songs we’d quickly land back on Ebenezer. At some point, I couldn’t take it anymore. At the risk of being anti-social, I put on some music on my phone and drowned out Ebenezer through my earphones. It was either that or have an outburst 😃. It actually helped and before long, we were back home in Bulawayo, safe and sound and outburst free. I was pretty sure that if I never heard that song again in my life it’d be too soon.

What happened the next day changed my mind about the song though. In fact, I look back on the trip with a new perspective, even the backseat driving on speed. My mum and I went into the city in the afternoon to run some errands. As we left one shop, a stranger pointed out that there seemed to be something wrong with the front tyre. We both examined it and saw that it looked slightly fuller than the others. Since we only had a couple of things left on our to-do list, we decided to finish our errands then stop by the garage (service station) on the way home. We arrived at the next shop, parked the car, and started for the entrance. A car guard stopped us to say that there seemed to be a bubble in our front car tyre.

We both examined the tyre again and saw that it looked slightly worse than before. There was a bubble that had formed in the tyre. We decided to complete our last errand then give my dad a call about the tyre. Whilst we were in the shop, we heard a loud bang that startled everyone including us. I remember mummy and I speculating what the loud sound was and where it was coming from. Nonetheless, we completed our errands and made it back to the car. That’s when we realised that the loud bang we’d heard had been our car tyre bursting. The car guard confirmed what and how it had happened. Thankfully, no one was injured. We called my dad and waited for help, all the while reflecting on what had just happened.

A burst tyre on the road, especially when driving at speed, can cause a serious accident. We were so grateful that we had driven over 700 km from Bulawayo to Masvingo to Zaka and back again with no incident. We had driven around a crowded city the next day, again, with no incident. The tyre burst when the car was safely parked and there was no one near enough to the car to get hurt. To us, the timing and sequence of events seemed like God’s protection over us. Firstly, the car and its tyres were new. It had been purchased earlier in the year. Secondly, it is our standard to have our cars checked before a road trip. It was cleared for travel. l point that out to say that no one – well, no one but daddy – could have reasonably anticipated the burst tyre.

Yet my dad specifically mentioned heat and speed compromising the car tyres during our road trip as if he had anticipated it. He had stayed on my mum’s case about driving well below the speed limit. My mum had also insisted that he drive below the speed limit. The lyrics of the chorus to the song Ebenezer stick out to me when I reflect on that trip:

Tinoti Ebenezer! 
(We sing Ebenezer!) 
Nesuwo tiri munyasha. 
(We too are covered by His grace) 
Zvairema, zvichirwadza, asi Jehovah vatisvitsa pano
 (Sometimes it was tough, painful, but Jehovah has brought us thus far)

Ebenezer means stone of help or commemoration of divine assistance as illustrated in the book of Samuel in the Bible. To be covered by grace means to be shown divine assistance or kindness or support that you’ve have done nothing to earn. As we waited, my mum and I reflected on how we were protected by God’s grace on that road trip. Some may say, “What a coincidence!” I say thank you, Jesus, for watching over us diligently and protecting us from harm. While we waited for my day we braced ourselves for the I-told-you-so’s that would inevitably come from him. They never came. When we later asked him if there was anything specific that had made him concerned about the tyres on that road trip, he said there wasn’t. It was just the possibility of it happening that had him so concerned. I would say it was Ebenezer!

Love,