It was a very wintry day in the Midwest.  We had over a foot of snow on the ground and the temperature was below zero, with a bitter wind.  It was also Sunday, and my mother taught Sunday school, so we needed to get to church!  The Mercury station wagon we normally tooled around in was frozen solid.  So, my father did something I never remember him doing any other time.  He manually cranked the motor on the 1931 Ford Town Sedan he had been restoring.  It fired right up!  The big wheels on the old machine walked through the snow without any difficulty.  It was Ol’ Reliable come to life!

Ol’ Reliable is a term we don’t use much anymore, unless we’re referring to something out of SpongeBob SquarePants or the occasional video game.  Everything seems to be disposable.  If something fails, we go out and get another one.  The newer item usually has more features than the older one, anyway.

But that’s not what Ol’ Reliable used to mean when I was young.  The term referred to the “go-to” item, be it car or wrench or weapon or recipe or piece of clothing, that would carry us through the current calamity.  It was something that served well no matter the situation because it was made to be durable – to bear up and carry others along with it.  Reliability was a much-sought-after virtue in almost every area.  It’s not so true anymore.

Lately, I think most of us have been surprised that something on which we rely is no longer reliable.  A favorite restaurant has closed, a co-worker whom we learned to trust has moved on to a different job, or our favorite type of shoe is no longer available.  These are disappointing, but they’re not life-threatening.  Other things are more difficult to live without, like cellphone or internet service, basic commodities at the grocery store, or gasoline at some sort of reasonable price.

We’ve also had to learn to live in a world where we’re not sure what to call someone whom we have not seen in a while when they look radically different.  Sometimes, we aren’t sure any more whether there are certain subjects we can talk about without insulting or angering someone.  The weather?  Sports?  How do we make small talk?  And politics?  Don’t get me started…

The hardest, however, seems to be when we have to move on without someone we thought to be Ol’ Reliable, at least to us.  Maybe they have passed away, or we no longer have the means to contact them.  If it’s someone on which we have relied in the past, we miss them particularly when circumstances get difficult, when we need a shoulder to cry on, or when there’s too much month at the end of the money.

All of this thought about someone on whom we can rely makes me think of the only One I know I can truly depend on.  I know it’s cliché, but his promise that he will “never leave (us) or forsake (us) still holds true (see Deuteronomy 31:6), even though the promise was given thousands of years ago.  Jesus said it another way.  “…surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  (Matthew 28:20)  I don’t know if we’re near the end of the age – there are times when I hope fervently that we are – but I certainly know that he is still faithful to his promise.  I see it day after day.

We made it to Sunday school on that snowy Sunday because of Ol’ Reliable, the entire family packed into the old car.  If you’re having a particularly difficult time recently, maybe it’s time to go back to the heavenly Ol’ Reliable, who is always there, and rely on him!  God will gladly welcome you and carry you through whatever you must endure.