Reflecting on one year in the archdiocese

A little over a year ago, I began my transition to my new position in the Archdiocese of Mobile.  My start date was set and I planned my drive from the Washington, DC, area to Mobile.  As I was preparing for my trip, I was busy packing and preparing and had little time to pay attention to the news.
I decided to start my trip after work on my last day in the office and drive outside of the DC/Virginia area to avoid morning traffic.  I picked out Rocky Mount, N.C., to spend the night.  It seemed like the perfect spot to break up my travel.  I was excited as a set out on my journey.
Typically, when I arrive at my destination, I fill up my tank before I check in at the location that I am staying.  On this occasion, I still had three quarters of a tank and there was not a gas station near the hotel, so I decided that I would fill up in the morning.  When I settled in my room, I turned on the television but not to any news channels.  As I was flipping channels, I saw a story about a problem with gas in the southeast due to a computer system being hacked.  The story mentioned that people were panicking and filling up their gas tanks.  I figured I would get up really early to fill up my tank and then hit the road.  
I woke up around 5 a.m. the next morning and set out to fill up my tank.  When I arrived at the first gas station, I quickly realized that I should have taken this more seriously.  All of the pumps had bags over the handles reading “sold out.”  I visited 8 to 10 gas stations that morning and all of them were decorated the same with the bags over the handles.  I went back to my hotel room and started to plan my next steps.  At that point, I turned on the news and the story was on most of the channels.  People had rushed to gas stations and waited in long lines to fill up their tanks.  The place that was in the worst shape happened to be North Carolina.  
One of my first thoughts at this point was how could this be happening at the same time I was traveling to a new place to work for the Church.  I considered calling my new employer to explain that I might not make it on the date that we had agreed that I would start.  I put together a couple of plans and was deciding what I would do.  I decided to put my faith in God and set out on the road hoping that gas would be available.  The situation appeared to be better in South Carolina, so my hope was to make it to a gas station with gas before I ran out.  As I was driving down the highway, I had to make a decision on which exits to try.  Pulling off on every exit did not seem to be a good plan because it would only waste gas if there was no gas at the exit.  On the third exit that I tried, THERE WAS GAS! I was so relieved and so grateful!  For the rest of the trip, there were a few gas stations that were out of gas but it was better the further south I traveled.
There will be challenges in life for all of us.  This drive to my new opportunity to serve God reinforced my belief that God was with me throughout the trip and I should put my trust in Him no matter the circumstances.  There have been challenges during my first year in the Archdiocese of Mobile and there have been many blessings.  I am thankful to God for both.
— Tex Phelps is the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. He may be emailed at [email protected]
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